Not the least bit surprised. I'm more familiar with the science from organizational behavior standpoints, but typically, both rewards and deterrents lose their motivational ability the more abstract they are and the further removed in time the consequence is from the action.
Our FL legislature, at the urging of our governor, wants to allow a jury to chose the death penalty with only 8 of the 12 in favor instead of 12.
The only problem I have with the death penalty is how long it takes to be carried out once someone is sentenced. Especially for egregious acts of rape, torture, etc where DNA proves the attacker. In those instances get to business or let the family of the attacked handle it.
The issue with that is that we have had innocent people on death row. If you act too fast, you could execute an innocent person
Gotta break a few eggs when making an omelette. Will never be 100%. However, the “fast track” execution would be reserved for the most egregious offenses where DNA is incontrovertible.
Danny Rolling absolutely deserved to be put to death, but the existence of the death penalty certainly didn't deter him. I am pro death penalty, but only in the most extreme cases...the Danny Rollings and Ted Bundys of the country. After spending decades in the criminal justice system, on both sides, I don't think the death penalty serves as a deterrent at all, but IMO some people have simply forfeited their right to live. I do think it should be administered humanely, society loses its moral imperative if it tries to "out-barbaric" the barbarians.
It's more than emotion or revenge. Danny Rolling had no business remaining on Earth. They didn't execute the wrong guy.
I am not for the death penalty as a form of deterrence. I am for the death penalty to provide victims families with a sense of finality and punishment. Especially for heinous crimes like the ones you outlined.
And hey, if the government murders some innocent people in the quest for finality, it's just what happens when you prioritize efficiency. No big deal.
Taylor was a real gem. A convicted drug dealer who had previous arrests for child molestation and rape (raped his step daughter). He was also a primary suspect in an unsolved 1990 murder in California. Despite being convicted in a jury trial and losing several appeals, we may never know for 100% certainty that Taylor was guilty of the murders of his girl friend and her daughters. But we do know Taylor was a despicable human being.
Danny Rolling pleaded guilty, largely in part due to the overwhelming evidence of his guilt. The only trial he had was the penalty phase. He later also admitted to a triple murder in Shreveport, Louisiana. One thing I had never heard of before was that Rolling also paid a visit to Sarasota where he broke into a woman's home, bound her with duct tape and sexually assaulted, but did not kill, her. This happened earlier in the same month of the Gainesville murders. There is a zero chance Florida executed the wrong person.
An absolutely bizarre serial killer (3 women...17, 25 and 26) story was Oscar Ray Bolin, who was put to death in 2016. Rosalie Martinez was a mitigation specialist employed by the Hillsborough County Public Defenders Office. She had been married for 17 years to a local defense attorney with whom she had 4 children. While working with Bolin on his cases she fell in love with him, left her husband and ultimately married the convicted serial killer. I was court appointed to represent a defendant on a motion for post conviction relief...he was claiming his trial counsel was ineffective and that his lawyer's deficient performance led to his conviction. He was convicted of sexually battering a small child and he wanted me to retain (on the taxpayer's dime) Rosalie to go to the jail and photograph his penis in various stages of arousal to support his contention it would have been physically impossible from a size perspective for him to have penetrated the child. I not very politely refused and his family retained another lawyer for him. I did not follow up to see is she was hired or not.
That’s not an argument against the Death penalty, it’s an emotional plea for revenge, argumentum ad passiones.
Sadly 18 months later the thread title once again fits https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/24/marcellus-williams-execution-missouri-faq/ New DNA evidence was found, the original prosecutor changed his mind, the victims family opposed the execution.
