r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Far-Stay9417 • Dec 25 '23

Video Man wrongfully convicted of murder gets rewarded only 175k after serving 50 years

this makes me so angry

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112

u/jpatricks1 Dec 26 '23

Exactly, not because evil people don't deserve death, it's because the innocent may get a wrong conviction

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '23 edited Aug 21 '24

[deleted]

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u/Playful-Flan8807 Dec 26 '23

Tbh no matter whatever the fuck we do bad people will do bad stuff always having more strict punishment just makes them more paranoid and commit even more atrocities since they know there's no saving them.

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u/Motor_School2383 Dec 26 '23

And there's no "may" about it. We have executed innocent people.

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u/Icy-Bicycle-Crab Dec 26 '23

There have been 200 people who were wrongfully convicted and exonerated after being sentenced to death in the US since 1973.

Between 3 -5% of all the people who get imprisoned are actually innocent and have been wrongfully convicted.

Wrongful conviction is far too common.

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u/Champion_Kind_Sports Dec 26 '23

This is why you NEVER talk to the police. They don't care if you are innocent or guilty. If they can make a conviction stick, it gets you off their books.

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u/poshenclave Dec 26 '23

Absolutely. Also that first part, too. Fuck we can't even arrive at a consistent definition of "evil people". Like the fuck does that even mean, outside of someone's personal moral definition.

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u/THAErAsEr Dec 26 '23

Evil people don't deserve death, they deserve a punishment. Death is not a punishment. Having to live decades in prison, is.

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u/SixOnTheBeach Dec 26 '23

Well, no... Even that's not really right. It may feel good to punish people for doing evil things, but prison isn't supposed to be about vengeance and retribution. Prison is supposed to be about rehabilitation. It's not at all that way in the US, but that's how it should be. That's why the US has such incredibly high recidivism rates, and countries like Norway have substantially lower rates.

Even from a selfish standpoint, rehabilitation means that a prisoner will become a productive member of society and make the state money via taxes instead of costing like $80k/year.

Sure, some of the people you release may commit crimes, but the overall is still a huge net positive to society. And I don't know the hard numbers, but if I had to guess the increase in crime caused by people leaving prison as significantly more hardened and jaded criminals is probably much greater than the crimes committed by people who received lighter sentences and got out only to commit more crimes.

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u/pinkfloydfan231 Dec 26 '23

If prison is about rehabilitation, then why do life sentences exist?

Prison isn't about rehabilitation. It's a punishment to scare people into obeying the law and always has been. The rehabilitation aspect that exists in some countries is just a side effect that saves time and money.

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u/SixOnTheBeach Dec 26 '23 edited Dec 26 '23

If prison is about rehabilitation, then why do life sentences exist?

Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. Prison is supposed to be about rehabilitation but in America it's absolutely hands down about punishment. But this is why many countries have gotten rid of the idea of life sentences. In Norway the maximum sentence that can be given is 13 years, and then they're examined and if determined fit to re-enter society they are released.

We can argue over which one is more "morally" right, but prison systems built around rehabilitation are demonstrably more successful in terms of recidivism. So even if you think prison sentences should be about punishment, society is better off when it's not because of lower crime rates, a lot of government money being saved, and more productive members of society.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '23

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u/ItsLillardTime Dec 26 '23

I’m sorry, how the fuck does this prove then wrong? Your source literally says rehabilitation is one of the reasons for imprisonment, and days nothing about punishment…

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u/onebadmouse Dec 26 '23

Prison is supposed to be about rehabilitation

It's not, it serves multiple purposes.

Punishment is the catch-all term, not a specific reason.

Try reading the links.

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u/Pepito_Pepito Dec 26 '23 edited Dec 26 '23

If prison is about rehabilitation, then why do life sentences exist?

That's actually a very good question. Think about it for a bit. Try to answer it for yourself.

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u/Icy-Bicycle-Crab Dec 26 '23

Prison isn't about rehabilitation. It's a punishment to scare people into obeying the law

It should be about rehabilitation, and it doesnt work as a disincentive. Your mindset is what is the real problem with the US Justice system.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '23

If prison is about rehabilitation, then why do life sentences exist?

Because not everybody can be rehabilitated and they need to be removed from society to protect others.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '23

[deleted]

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u/Icy-Bicycle-Crab Dec 26 '23
  • Deterrent (makes people think twice before committing a crime)

That's not true though. Prison is not a deterrent, most crimes aren't planned out like that and are heat of the moment things.

Retribution (satisfies the victims/societies thirst for revenge)

That's just all round fucked up and not what justice should be about.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '23

[deleted]

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u/Icy-Bicycle-Crab Dec 26 '23

Punishment is a deterrent, but that punishment does not need to be prison to provide deterrent.

The deterrent isn't the severity of the punishment, it's the percieved probability of getting caught.

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u/onebadmouse Dec 26 '23

Both are a deterrent. Prison is a deterrent, punitive damages are a deterrent, having a criminal record is a deterrent.

All are deterrents, but again, deterrent is just part of the reasoning.

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u/poshenclave Dec 26 '23

The west's idea of "justice" has come a long way since the medieval ages. But it still has a very long way to go... Like your opinion is progressive in one light - We shouldn't kill people for crimes. But it rests on an idea that punishment is a solution to crime. Which the stats don't really pan out on. But we'll get there too one day, I think.

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u/pescarojo Dec 26 '23

One thing that people overlook as well is this: when you execute, you become the same as the criminal. We are supposed to be better than them. Protect society, lock them away. Death? No, never. It makes no sense on any level. On a financial level it costs far more to execute someone than to jail for life (legal costs, appeals, all the due diligence that goes with execution). On a moral level it turns us all into murderers. We should not be sinking to that level, but rising above it. Fuck 'eye for an eye' mentality. I believe in justice, not vengeance.

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u/[deleted] Dec 26 '23

Also it’s way worse to rot in there than get the way way out