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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   31395 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 30, 2024

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Aren’t you and @Folamh3 excluding the most common, most defensible objection? Would either of those accounts be dissatisfied with life in prison?

(Edit: @gattsuru pointed out that, yes, the Aurelius guy remained 100% partisan about life without parole. And in one of the other cases I cited, too! Mea culpa.)

You can see a similar conclusion in other cases. Clemency is portrayed as (specifically Christian) mercy and a chance to further reduce the false alarm rate. More cynically, it’s a way for governments to look responsive to public outcry without actually releasing a possible murderer.

The status of Oklahoma’s parole board is interesting. It looks like they’ve recommended clemency 5 times, always on grounds of inhumanity, and always on a 3-2 or 3-1 vote. But there’s no shortage of cases where they decline to recommend it. Clearly there are limits to any stonewalling. Regardless, Governor Stitt usually declines the recommendation.

Aren’t you and @Folamh3 excluding the most common, most defensible objection? Would either of those accounts be dissatisfied with life in prison?

I'm not sure I follow. I suspect that they would be dissatisfied, but I don't know that and I don't wish to mischaracterize them if I'm wrong.

Consider the response to a commuted death sentence in the same state:

“After prayerful consideration and reviewing materials presented by all sides of this case, I have determined to commute Julius Jones’ sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole,” Stitt said in a news release.

A crowd of Jones’ supporters at the Oklahoma Capitol broke out into loud applause and cheers when the decision was announced shortly after noon Thursday, and more than 100 supporters who had gathered outside the prison in McAlester erupted in cheers.

These protestors had more skin in the game, more publicity and a better case for innocence, but they were still cheering for life without parole. I think that suggests a true distaste for killing.

In the absence of other remarks on those Twitter accounts, I’d assume they feel the same, and would be glad to accept commutation even though that admits guilt.

In the absence of other remarks on those Twitter accounts...

Uh:

Hopefully the LWOP ruling pushes you to PIC abolition. Death by imprisonment is still death. Anytime behind bars is gross inhumanity, trauma, and violence. Every additional hour Julius remains there is cruel. It all must go. Our urgency must remain.

Well, there you have it.

The most defensible objection to what?

To the death penalty.

I think most death penalty protestors are neither evil nor conspiratorial. They just really reject killing. That leads to protesting whether or not innocence is in question.

See my other comment. I don't think this explanation describes all anti-death penalty activists.

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