UPDATE: Florida jury spares Parkland school gunman from death penalty

[csziggy]

55. With the death penalty, he would still spend much of his life in prison

As appeals worked their way through the courts. And that still would not guarantee that he would ever be put to death. Although he might eventually get the release of death, it would not be a quick release - as it used to be.

I used to be pro-death penalty until I realized that it is far too often given to the wrong person. Or if the right person is convicted, they are not quickly eliminated from society because the system has to make sure that the wrong person is not killed. Death without parole is kinder to society but a much more dire existence for the perpetrator.

Life without parole means he will never have the chance to get a release, whether from death or some change in his status allowing him out. He will forever be locked up in a cell. And the general public can forget he ever existed - though his victims and their families cannot.