9 votes

They went to prison as kids. Now they’re on death row.

3 comments

  1. [3]
    JXM
    Link
    In theory, I'm in favor of the death penalty for especially heinous crimes. The obvious examples to me are serial killers like Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer. Why should they get to live when they...

    In theory, I'm in favor of the death penalty for especially heinous crimes. The obvious examples to me are serial killers like Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer. Why should they get to live when they took dozens of lives?

    But in practice, especially with our justice system in the U.S., I just can't support it. There are so many examples of the system being broken, racially biased, of people wrongfully convicted on shoddy testimony and evidence. I'd rather fifty people like Dahmer rot in jail than one innocent person be executed.

    At least if someone serving a life sentence is exonerated decades later, then they can be released and have some chance at a normal life. You also can't undo executing someone.

    These people all committed horrible crimes and should be punished, but I think it is important that we, as a society, take some of the blame. What did we expect to happen when a kid is thrown in jail and exposed to hardened criminals?

    Another death row prisoner, Teddrick Batiste, was arrested while in high school for joyriding — stealing cars — and sent to a juvenile facility, where, according to an ex-girlfriend, he learned “more and better ways to steal cars.” He spent time at Sheffield Boot Camp, hundreds of miles from his family and friends in Houston. According to Charles Rotramel, CEO of a juvenile support nonprofit, he had to “beat up people to avoid being beaten up himself.” He left with post-traumatic stress, hypervigilance and a “diminished sense of self-worth.”

    Think about how impressionable you were as a teenager. Remember how the older kids used to pick on the younger ones in school? Now imagine being assaulted, threatened and abused by the older kids. Except those older kids are seasoned criminals. Of course those young kids that were thrown into jail come out broken.

    8 votes
    1. [2]
      cfabbro
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      IMO, a major part of the problem (especially in the US) is people wanting to "punish" criminals at all, rather than simply rehabilitate them, since that leads to stricter laws, harsher sentences,...

      IMO, a major part of the problem (especially in the US) is people wanting to "punish" criminals at all, rather than simply rehabilitate them, since that leads to stricter laws, harsher sentences, worse prison conditions, and less accountability. And another major problem is people feeling like even time served is not enough punishment, which leads to longer probation periods, stricter probation conditions, and laws like those requiring felons report their status to potential employers. All of which makes it more likely juvenile/first-time offenders turn into career criminals, or even death row inmates, since serving time and reintegrating into society afterwards is already difficult enough, even in the most humane justice/prison systems.

      9 votes
      1. JXM
        Link Parent
        I’ll clarify that while I think people like Dahmer or Bundy are not able to be rehabilitated and are not worth our time, those types of people are few and far between. The vast, vast majority of...

        I’ll clarify that while I think people like Dahmer or Bundy are not able to be rehabilitated and are not worth our time, those types of people are few and far between. The vast, vast majority of people who commit a crime can (and should) be rehabilitated.

        I agree with you that the U.S. has moved further and further away from the idea that prison should be a place to help people reform and move people away from a life of crime (hardly a controversial stance since we have decades of research showing this).

        Once you’re in the system, you’re stuck for life, be it through a life sentence, a lifetime of restrictions on what you can do or the impossibility to find work and support yourself.

        3 votes