Consensus

When a jury deadlocked recently over giving a death sentence to Nickolas Cruz, the 2018 mass murderer of 17 people at Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, it sparked widespread outrage. Though Cruz was barely of age when he carried out his atrocity, and suffered significant mental impairment, in large part the result of substantial childhood trauma, nobody, from the victims’ families – whose aggrieved victim statements before his sentencing made clear anything less than death only rubbed salt into their wounds – to MAGA state politicos always on the come to pander to anger, was at all interested in “mitigating circumstances.” Although the judge made clear Cruz would never sniff the possibility of parole, it did little to abate the visceral ire most felt about him cheating the needle.

There are precious few things America seems capable of reaching bipartisan consensus about; sadly, a common lust for conflating revenge with justice is one of those outliers. Indeed, polls confirm, particularly when taken after episodes like the Parkland massacre, a wide cross-section of Americans seem willing to diminish the human element within the process if it guarantees the likes of Nickolas Cruz will get what’s coming to them.

How a country connects crime and punishment speaks volumes about the depth of substance within its civic discussions. A society fixated on making trespassers suffer as the guiding staple of its penal sensibilities betrays more than just a failure to discipline its approach to essential public policy, it also underlines an injurious lack of collective empathy that will surely leach into other important segments of national life.

More than 60 percent of us favor the death penalty for convicted murderers. That majority has remained solid and unwavering throughout the last half-century despite fairly incredible advancement in forensic science, which has produced many irrefutable discoveries when applied to critical pieces of physical evidence that had previously resulted in the conviction of defendants sentenced to death row.

Of course, the death penalty issue is as complex as it is emotional, as nuanced as it is visceral. On the one side are the innocent victims of unspeakable crimes, often children who suffered through their final moments of life at the hands of depraved beasts. In many of the most egregious cases the state presents incontrovertible proof, well beyond a reasonable doubt. Often, the defendant admits freely his guilt and shows little remorse for what happened, actually leading investigators to where bodies are buried.

That such monsters should not be erased from existence and actually fed and housed on the taxpayer dime for the rest of their lives is very difficult to accept when presented within the vacuum of each isolated case. Indeed, in that context, one can argue that the victims’ basic rights are being violated if the perpetrator receives anything other than the maximum sanction. Moreover, from a broader societal perspective, it assaults the senses to think a child molesting killer should be afforded anywhere from 15k to over 60K per year of state-supported sustenance for the rest of his life. If every episode were so open and shut, things would be much simpler.

Alas, that’s not the case. On the other side of the issue is a judicial system we know is, not simply imperfect, but often patently unjust. In fact, with the advancement of criminal science, applied effectively by pro bono organizations such as the Innocence Project in service to death row inmates convicted under questionable circumstances, it’s clear, as men who spent years on death row are freed, a sizable number of innocent convicts currently face execution. Far worse, it is equally certain, as previously closed cases are examined, that a growing list of men the state executed were innocent of the crimes they were condemned for. The cherry on top is the circle-the-wagons mentality many prosecutors and relevant officials exhibit when presented with the truth. Time and again, rather than own up to the grievous injustice it caused, the court system will dig in its heels and refuse to right the wrong.

So the question, absent any demonstration of the national will necessary to create a responsive death penalty appeals process that shields its participants from politics, really boils down to… do the ends justify the means? Is our desire to make the worst of us pay what we believe they owe for their crimes worth the collateral damage of innocent men falling through the cracks? Do you have more trouble sleeping knowing a vile murderer is in a cell instead of the dirt, or that a penniless kid with an IQ of 70 was railroaded by the state he never stood a chance against?

The former sensibility seems far more prevalent, particularly in Florida, which leads the nation in the number of convicts exonerated while on death row. Governor Ron DeSantis, a MAGA prototype most mentioned as the heir apparent to gain the Trump base’s cultish allegiance, just won re-election in a landslide. It’s certain he spends no time considering the specter of innocent men strapped in for lethal injections when coming up with his policy priorities. Couple that with the public disdain for Cruz’s sentence, and it’s a license for the GOP-dominated state legislature to pander. Such ugly synergy promises to provide a torrent of bills designed only to add “mandatory” to as many sentencing guidelines as possible. If a jury can’t be relied on, exclude them from the process.

Almost all of the world’s democracies have distinguished themselves from dictators by banning the death penalty. The US is not one of them. In fact, we are the only western democracy still employing it. Moreover, one of our major political parties appears hellbent to expand its reach. Of course, it’s common knowledge Trump’s death penalty inclinations are of the Saudi Arabian variety, but when his 2024 challengers gather on the debate stage you can bet they will be arguing about who doesn’t love capital punishment enough.

No surprise there. Underneath, the GOP understands its 24/7 gun lobby servitude makes it fully complicit in America’s bloodbath, MAGA zealotry aside. Any distraction that concentrates the blame somewhere else while inviting another issue that actually enjoys popular support is a godsend.

Yet and still, perhaps the most depressing reality is that so many otherwise sensible Americans allow the rage produced by the worst crimes to addle their perspective about what is and isn’t true injustice, not to mention what societal progress should look like. Commuting death sentences has always been more about profiles in courage than good politics. These days we are having way too much trouble recognizing either. Another important civic barometer that’s moving backwards. BC