Dylann Roof sentenced to death

[Brian37]

So, If I'm getting this right, if we overfed our pretrial custody folks.....that would be a cheaper but equally effective way of preventing that sort of thing....that doesn't have any of the attendant issues of capital punishment?  I have to ask, though, in all seriousness, how exactly would the death penalty have helped in bundy's case....before he was convicted?

I was just pointing out the cunning and intellect of Ted Bundy and how he was someone that was truly deserving of the death penalty. He was a remorseless and brutal serial killer who raped and tortured his victims before killing them. He kept their dead bodies and would return to have sex with them until they were too decomposed. He also decapitated some and kept their heads as trophies. By Florida law he was executed. Bundy was a psychopathic killer who showed no remorse or pity for his victims. Dylan Roof walked into a church with the intention of killing black people. They were having a prayer meeting and they showed him nothing but love and acceptance and he murdered them without remorse. Because he murdered those people, the state will lawfully put him to death. You can object all you want. A cold blooded and remorseless murderer can lawfully be put to death in 38 states here in this country.

Not the fucking point. If they are remorseless then killing them only becomes an act of revenge on our part. It still does not bring back the dead. AND again this still has to be taken into account the non famous cases and non serial killer cases where a death occurs, the accused are full of people unable to pay for a defense and are appointed a court lawyer who is flooded with other cases. And again, the state spends far more on prosecution than defense which makes it much easier to potentially convict someone innocent.

You cannot treat them as separate in a long term legal system, reality does not work that way. Your mindset of revenge is archaic and is what theocracies and despots do. Nobody is trying to deny you your emotional reaction to a vile individual, what we are talking about is our value as a western society of due process, and our value of courts over mob rule. You don't convict on emotions, you don't convict on the nature of a charge, of any crime, that is not justice, that is revenge. And again, even one of the family member's of Roof's victim said "It was a hollow victory, it won't bring back my loved one". 

I am going to bring this up once again, because I find it extremely important when I see people getting emotional about the accused. Now while it was not a criminal case, I got deeply emotionally traumatized for being falsely accused of something I did not do, by an entire private school I went to. We had a play day a recess day, on a field atop a hill. The hill itself was aside a high traffic road, supported by a concrete wall with railing so you couldn't fall off the hill onto the sidewalk. 

So I was looking at the cars passing by leaning on the rail. A car kicked up a rock with it's right front tire that dinged the door. I am sure the guy while approaching might have had the hill in his vision somewhat while approaching. He assumed falsely that the rock was thrown at his car. Pulled in, got the principle made the claim. Like a dumbass I went up and said  "no, your car tire kicked it up", he didn't buy it and the principle didn't buy it. Principle forced us all back into the cafeteria and wouldn't let us out until someone confessed, meaning me. I stood my ground but the day ended with all of us staying there until the buses came to pick us up. I had hundreds of students and dozens of staff angry at me for something I did not do. Now, take that, and imagine if you are falsely accused of anything in a real court, robbery, theft, rape, child molestation, and especially murder. If you think nobody ever gets wrongfully convicted you are a fool.

I have talked to a man who got off death row because of a very flimsy case. I interviewed another who was convicted solely based on another prisoner's testimony, with NO physical evidence. There is a reason we have courts, and they are not there to simply get revenge on the accused. 

It is perfectly NORMAL to have your RIGHTFUL reaction to a vile piece of garbage like Roof. But like I said, killing him is not an act of correction or containment, on top of costing tax payers far more to prosecute not just for the trial, but for all the appeals after.  HOW we view our system matters far more long term for both the accused and falsely accused, not just one case, and not just a famous case.

Mob rule mentality, if it spreads to a big enough political level, it can poison law enforcement, prosecutors judges and potential jury pools. That is a very dangerous road mentality. You convict on facts alone, if you convict and punish for revenge, you set yourself up to be a mob rule society.