Comic book universes and the death penalty

[Majicaesar]

Ok so I read the superman comic book "What's so funny about Truth Justice and the American Way?" Where he expounds that his policy of no killing is morally superior and leads to a better society after defeating analogs of Wildstorm's "The Authority" (who for some reason instantly turn totalitarian and sociopathic). His argument being that heroes killing villains would make them above the law.

That being said. Why doesn't the legal system in these universes have a death penalty? Mind you I am asking from an In-universe practical standpoint, not a marketing or profit standpoint. Almost all of these universes have a poor track record of criminal containment and a worse record of reforming criminals. If anything from a story perspective, governments seem to have less of a problem taking lethal measures towards dealing with heroes than villains.

The impracticallity of the no kill policy is kind of blatant in a super hero universe considering civilian casualties and property damage everytime a villain who is capable of escaping does so. Mind you I am not in favor of the death penalty in real life. The 2 primary reasons for a lack of fear of reprisal are, crimes of passion in which the murderer is simply not considering it, or because the criminal thinks that they can get away with it. Also, instances of vigilantism go up after each execution and that mean a lot of untrained yahoos are taking matters into their own hands which is bad for everyone.

That being said, supervillains often do these crimes in full view of everyone, in a premeditated fashion. And vigilantes are everywhere already so I fail to see the arguments to not have a death penalty. Also it seems that anyone can be declaired legally insane and skip the court system. Can anyone tell me how the penguin counts as legally insane? He seems quite in control of his actions, bird motif or otherwise, and characters like the scarecrow initially were just unethical scientists, not insane. Also Sociopathy is not considered a valid grounds for legal insanity despite the fact that it's causes are biological.

I dislike how in the DC universe a hero's willingness to kill automatically means that they will go megalomaniacal. If Superman believes in due process then fine, he wouldn't be Superman if he didn't, but that still means that the legal system needs to step up to protect its citizens. If not, then it only makes sense that people would latch onto morally grey anti-heroes, who if nothing else send out a real warning to supervillains and corrupt governments. Marvel and DC would just have to come up with more villains for them to face instead of letting the atomic skull, or the abomination loose for the 30th time, either that or the negative zone should be a lot more crowded (sans super geniuses who could stage a mass breakout).

[boredoom]

I think it's fine as long as the approved kills are on some sort of list. Could be a secret list hidden in somebody's drawer, away from all scrutiny .. as long as it's a list.

[Majicaesar]

Also if there are characters like Negate, or Anti-venom who can de-power afflicted characters, why aren't they on the government payroll at prisons and other supermax facilities? Shouldn't they de-powering "city destroying" villains regularly via court order?

[Seth]

What are the reasons they give in the whole Punisher-Spiderman history of comics, and the Dark Phoenix? Lots of comics have had story arcs about just this thing.

I don't think it's just marketing or profit, but I think the real reason is the same as why so few heroes die. The flip side of the coin is villans rarely just kill the hero, even when ready willing and able, so much so it's a trope and a joke.

Simple reason is characters are precious artistic creations, and if you kill them off, you can't use them anymore.

[Majicaesar]

Following Boredoom's comment, Any list of approved death penalty candidates should be posted for everyone to see with their crimes listed, not exclusive to some clandestine government agency, like the FBI most wanted list. That way upon escape, any heroes who have the means to do so can expedite the execution without reprisal if need be.

[Majicaesar]

I understand your comment Seth, but I am talking about an In-universe reason. Not because they will be missed by the writers or the readership

[Majicaesar]

I think I need to clarify. This is not a petition to change how comics are written. If you like comics as they are then fine, I'm glad. I love more than my fair share of villains who by my standards should have received a lethal injection. This is more of an exercise in logic and social dynamics, than it is a call for change.

[Orctavius]

Considering the way character death has been handled in most comic book universes over the years, it could be argued that the death penalty would be ineffective against super criminals who would be surely be resurrected by mad scientists/evil ninjas/eldrich beings as soon as their bodies were cold, or even incinerated. If you incarcerate the bad guys, at least you know where they are and you can alert your favorite super hero when (not if) they escape.

[Questionor]

Is there no death penalty or is there no death penalty for supervillains?
Also how often do supervillains visibly go on trial in comic books? Are we assuming they went on trial? Since their actions are so public would it not be crazy to imagine that many plea bargin for life sentence over death penalty?

[James]

Majicaesar,

There are two related questions.
(1) Why don't more super villains receive the death penalty as a result of a criminal trial?
(2) Regardless of whether a jury imposes a death penalty, why doesn't the state or federal government simply assassinate super villains?

The first question is that very few major super villains seem to stand trial in the criminal courts. The Kingpin is so rich he can bribe a jury, judge, or prosecutor. Doctor Doom, the Sub-Mariner and Magneto have diplomatic immunity (though arguably their conduct would usually be an act of war). Loki and Baron Mordo are magic. The Red Skull and the Mandarin usually escape, or seemingly die when their fortresses blow up. Presumably, the idea is that you become a major super villain because the criminal justice system can't really touch you. Even if incarcerated and put on death row, they're going to find a way to escape. These guys could be assassinated, but trial doesn't seem like a possibility.

The dudes on the lower rungs--your Scorpions, your Doctor Octopi, your Leapfrogs and Gladiators--didn't start out as homicidal maniacs. They were basically thieves or robbers, who would occasionally commit acts of municipal blackmail or something. At least early in their careers, it's not clear that what they've done is a capital offense. (Granted, as comics have been published for 50-80 years, and these guys keep at it, you'd figure a judge would eventually lose patience with their criminal records, but that gets into the whole sliding time-scale problem in the stories. Peter Parker would now be like 65 years old!)

Keep in mind that almost any evidence the super hero recovers wouldn't be admissible at trial: there's no chain of custody, it was almost certainly obtained illegally, and the super hero can't testify about how he got it without destroying his secret identity. (I guess the police could argue they would have discovered it by other means, but that may be a stretch in some super-cases where the evidence is on another planet or something.) The super villain's confession may have been recorded illegally or obtained under duress. Most convictions would just get overturned on appeal, which may explain why these guys serve such a short amount of time.

There's also the problem that the Supreme Court held the death penalty unconstitutional for a while in the 1970's. Since executions resumed in '76, the federal government has only executed 3 people! New York state's death penalty comes and goes; it's currently been deemed unconstitutional. It's possible that Gotham City, Metropolis, and the other fictional DC cities are in non-death penalty states.

Another possibility: maybe there's a criminal defense attorney with mind control powers, who messes up the jurors in the capital phase of the case, and we just never hear about her because she's good at what she does, and has a very specialized clientele...?

As to the second question - about simply assassinating these guys - that's a harder to explain. The U.S. government clearly has no problem taking out people it considers sufficiently threatening. Maybe the super villains are serving a valuable social function for someone?