It also gives the families of the victims a sense of closure.
Locking them up and throwing away the key will give them closure much more quickly. You do know that there have been cases where the survivors asked the court for leniency, right?
That is often the case, or if not actual
leniency, express the willingness to be content with a jury recommended sentence - especially in states where a life sentence
means life.
I have been both for and against capital punishment several times in my life.
The final deciding event was serving on a jury for a capital case. Middle-aged businessman with clean record, jilted by lover, premeditated murder of two people, one who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. During sentencing phase the families conducted themselves tearfully, but with dignity and grace. They were simply grateful for the closure, and guilty verdict...made no requests. The sentencing vote was split 6-6, in case of a tie it's Life. Judge pronounces sentence, two Life sentences to be served 'consecutively' - harshest of sentencing. I felt vindicated.
My vote was one of the six for Life - influenced by the families of the victims yes, but also by the 2 young men who sat behind their accused father every day, quiet and sad. He refused to allow them to plead on his behalf during the sentencing phase, so we never heard their voices. Six of us felt those two boys did not deserve to suffer the same awful grief that their father caused two other families. And in Fl, that is enough - a man punished who will die in prison, may he live long, and one family spared the ultimate grief.
On a side note - not all prospective jurors tell the truth when asked their opinion on the death penalty. It is not unheard of, in a death penalty state, for a juror to hold back on a guilty vote - regardless of the weight of evidence because they can't bring themselves to take responsibility for having a man put to death.
That is a betrayal of justice, imho.
