Cruz gets Life in Prison. Parents are outraged.

[Bitek]

Yeah, I'm not a death penalty guy but if there are situations that call for it, this is absolutely one of them. If it doesn't, then why have it at all. The next one of these will just say "oh, I have ADHD" and the result will be the same.

I've posted here before how I had a friend who was murdered decades ago. Killer got DP.

All that brought was appeals, court cases, etc bringing the family back in court and never allowing them to put the murder behind them because they are still actively involved in the legal system.

It's a curse.

It would have been better if the killer was just sentenced to life and disappeared into a hole and stopped bothering the family.

It's doesn't seem satisfying now, but we never have to have him back in the news. It's better in the long run.

 

[Brainonska511]

HOWEVER, life in prison isn't some kind of easy cake walk. Life for him, at best, will be difficult on a day-by-day basis...and might be short, depending on what prison he goes to, in gen-pop or not, how carefully the corrections officers watch him, etc.

It is gross that we as a society continue to allow prisons to be caked in violence perpetrated by guards, enabled by guards willful negligence, and perpetuated through crappy prison conditions that help to foster violence inside. If we're going to lock people up, they should be reasonably safe from violence.

 

[brycejones]

It is gross that we as a society continue to allow prisons to be caked in violence perpetrated by guards, enabled by guards willful negligence, and perpetuated through crappy prison conditions that help to foster violence inside. If we're going to lock people up, they should be reasonably safe from violence.

The vast majority get out of prison and into our society. Prison’s job must be preparing them for that day.

 

[JTsyo]

The hell?
No psycho shooting up classrooms full of kids is going to look at this trial's sentencing and make a meaningful decision.

Yea, it's the headlines that attract them.

 

[DaaQ]

It is gross that we as a society continue to allow prisons to be caked in violence perpetrated by guards, enabled by guards willful negligence, and perpetuated through crappy prison conditions that help to foster violence inside. If we're going to lock people up, they should be reasonably safe from violence.

Well they USED to be called "Correctional" Facilities, now they are "Detention" facilities. Go figure.

 

[Vic]

Life in prison without the possibility of parole is a fate worse than death IMO.

 

[pmv]

The debate over what to do with any one particular killer (_after_ the damage is done) seems like a bit of a distraction, really. You aren't going to solve the problem by culling the killers, one-at-a-time, and always after the event. Even in terms of psychologically making people feel better, giving one individual the death penalty seems insufficient to match the scale of the grief and horror of the event.
I wouldn't be out campaigning to save this guy, had he actually gotten the death penalty, but I also don't think killing one individual comes anywhere close to addressing the magnitude of what happened, even just considering this one case.

 

[Captante]

Gandalf said it best in the Two Towers .... the "wise" among us would be well-served remembering this.

The vast majority get out of prison and into our society. Prison’s job must be preparing them for that day.

American prisons are mostly the exact opposite of this. 🙁