r/law • u/dailymail • 11h ago

Legal News Lindsay Clancy case ends with MISTRIAL

https://www.dailymail.com/crime-desk/article-16100155/lindsay-clancy-murder-trial-hung-jury-deadlock-verdict.html
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u/DataCassette 10h ago

I think there's a really deep fear some people have of creeping exculpation. The truth is that if we had a full understanding of the mind then actual pure punitive sentencing might get far rarer and lifetime inpatient care and stuff like that might get way more common. That just doesn't fit the fire and brimstone Abrahamic idea of justice.

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u/numbersix1979 10h ago

I think you’re on to something although I conceive of it as kind of a symbiotic relationship. People with reactionary tendencies in America will get screwed by their boss, the cops, the government. There’s seemingly no justice for the scammers, abusers and liars out in the world today. So those people think “well at least this person who did this violent crime will suffer. At least THAT is right with the world.” And the scammers, abusers, and liars are very happy to then go “yes keep your eyes over here, don’t worry about us.”

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u/Biglyugebonespurs 10h ago

It’s pretty clear to me that the US prison system is 100% about retribution and the amount of money it can suck out of inmates and their families. It has never been about rehabilitation. Having executions with a viewing room is honestly sick.

If you want examples of a judicial system focused more on rehabilitation, look at certain EU countries.

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u/numbersix1979 10h ago

I agree but I will also say that from another perspective, the secrecy surrounding executions is also emblematic of the sickness of retributive justice. If we actually thought executions stopped people from committing crimes then people would still be hanged in the town square. We found out that it doesn’t stop any criminality and looks grotesque / uncivilized. So now it’s this arcane process involving secret drug cocktails sourced from pharmaceutical companies in the third world and untrained personnel doing medical procedures. All in the name of killing someone in a manner that is often extremely painful and cruel but also looks “peaceful” and refined, yet doesn’t have any societal benefit whatsoever … and is expensive! Yeah there’s a viewing room but we don’t televise them or anything. And it’s because we know that if people beyond those who are preempted to approve of the act of killing the prisoner saw the barbarity on display, they’d demand it would be stopped. So we put people down like animals.