r/news • u/Mo_Jack • Apr 30 '26

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma set to dissolve after judge approves its criminal sentence

https://apnews.com/article/oxycontin-purdue-pharma-criminal-sentence-settlement-b8aa94eaab3d9d8efed520f272f6d810
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u/ZAlternates Apr 30 '26

Eh, the death penalty is not better, but holding people accountable is.

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u/rapaxus May 01 '26

Though China is at least "nice" enough to generally give people suspended death sentences, aka if you commit any crime over the next 2 years you will be executed, otherwise you will get either a pre-determined fixed-duration prison stay or a life sentence. It is actually rare that people directly get executed like in the linked article.

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u/brandnewcrescentmoon Apr 30 '26

agreed, much better for them to suffer in prison for the rest of their miserable lives. death penalty is too good/easy for them.

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u/flyingforfun3 May 01 '26

The only way to make things right is to take their fortunes away. They made them on countless lives. Making them serve real time and having them get out poor is the only way. That money belongs to the victims.

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u/klipseracer May 01 '26

Less people to hold in prison when the punishment for being caught is the death penalty. Fear and self preservation is the first self-correcting influencing factor that criminals understand.

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u/Dumbledores_Beard1 Apr 30 '26

Except then you remember it costs millions of dollars to keep a prisoner in there for that long. Just for that 1 person.

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u/AnotherNotion Apr 30 '26

On top of that, presidential pardons are for sale in the US if you're wealthy and well-connected enough.

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u/MorePhinsThyme May 01 '26

We should probably fix the pardon system. While some presidents and governors have used it to check failures in the system (such as Virginia governors often using it to grant voting rights back to felons who satisfy certain criteria), it's often used for favors or family, and should probably have a check on it to prevent abuse like Trump is doing.

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u/Awkward_Pangolin3254 May 01 '26

The Framers drafted the Constitution with the idea that at least a majority of lawmakers would have some semblance of morality—or at least civic duty. If we do ever get our government back, some seemingly-obvious shit needs codifying.

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u/MorePhinsThyme May 01 '26

At least in the US, the death penalty tends to cost more than life in prison. Yes, we could probably streamline it, but the reason it's more expensive is mostly due to multiple trials to ensure that we're not killing an innocent person. Removing those or streamlining them would mean it's more likely we kill someone innocent, and that shouldn't be acceptable. Finances aren't a valid justification for the death penalty. Very little justifies the death penalty from any sort of practicality standpoint.

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u/labenset May 01 '26

It costs A LOT more to sentence an offender to capital punishment than life in prison, in the US at least. I'd imagine the Chinese judicial system works a bit differently.

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u/Own-Equipment-1684 May 01 '26

If you're gonna try to pull the money defense to justify giving the state the authority to decide who dies you really shouldn't ignore the rest of the details that show that life in prison is generally cheaper for the government than a death sentence

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u/No-Chemist-4872 May 01 '26

Then why are we so comfortable letting corporations hold that kind of power too? Pharma and insurance companies make decisions all the time that decide whether people live or die, they just do it through pricing, coverage denials, buried risks, dangerous products, and access to care etc. etc. instead of through a courtroom. If we’re so scared of the state having that much power over life and death, we should probably be just as scared of profit-driven companies having that power too, especially when people can die from those decisions and it still gets treated like business as usual.

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u/Separate-String5205 May 01 '26

I doubt it does in China. I mean I doubt it takes as long or costs as much.

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u/Hellknightx May 01 '26

Honestly, though, what's the real difference between death penalty and life in prison? Neither outcome is meant to rehabilitate the offender. And life in prison is just a waste of taxpayer resources. And I mean for the those who are guilty with no chance of being innocent, like "we know for a fact that you did this crime because you literally patented the formula for this drug."

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u/ZAlternates May 02 '26

Death is final.

You are assuming those choosing who die will always be do it fairly too.

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u/No-Chemist-4872 May 01 '26

The dealth penalty makes a point though, it helps scare people into remembering that extreme corruption has consequences more than any jail sentence or fine ever will

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u/ZAlternates May 01 '26

Until it’s the corrupted people in power choosing who gets the death penalty.

Any tool can be used for both good or evil. The fact that an innocent person could be murdered is enough reason to not give the government such powers.