Robert DuBoise, sentenced over a 1983 rape and murder he did not commit, says he hopes others in his position now ‘get justice’

Robert DuBoise, sentenced over a 1983 rape and murder he did not commit, says he hopes others in his position now ‘get justice’

A Tampa, Florida, man who has been authorized to receive $14m for spending nearly four decades in prison over a rape and murder which he did not commit says he hopes his case makes it easier for the unjustly convicted to achieve justice before it’s too late for them.

“I’m just grateful,” Robert DuBoise told the New York Times of the compensation that Tampa’s city council voted to pay him to settle a lawsuit over his wrongful conviction. He said he hoped others in his position now “get justice and can move on without having to spend the rest of their life fighting the system that has already wronged them”.

DuBoise was 18 at the time that 19-year-old Barbara Grams was raped and beaten to death as she walked home from her Tampa restaurant job in August 1983. A medical examiner determined that someone had bitten Grams on one of her cheeks, prompting investigators to take bite samples from multiple men, including DuBoise.

  • FiveMacs@lemmy.ca
    186·
    10 months ago

    And when people are repeat offenders and enjoy killing people? Then what…

    • AeonFelis@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      10 months ago

      Then you lock them together with the people who did lesser crimes and can be rehabilitated to ensure they too will end up more likely to do crimes, maybe even bigger ones, when eventually released.

      • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
        141·
        10 months ago

        It’s a legitimate question, though. There are many people who genuinely enjoy harming others. There really is no “rehabilitation” for someone who is disinterested in modifying their harmful behavior. Segregating those people from society is a safety issue.

        Rehabilitation for other people is excellent, but we still need a solution for those who cannot be rehabilitated.

        • Tremble@sh.itjust.works
          56·
          10 months ago

          Well, considering we don’t actually have any rehabilitation in the United States…… you’re basically arguing that we should continue to trample on the human rights of prisoners because you believe that there are people who can not be rehabilitated.

          • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
            11·
            10 months ago

            I’m not arguing against rehab or prison reform. You are right that we desperately need it. I’m arguing against the total abolishment of some kind of prison system because there are some who simply should not be allowed near the public. Porque no los dos?

        • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
          27·
          10 months ago

          Please provide your evidence of “many people” who deserve your version of justice.

          • Primarily0617@kbin.social
            8·
            10 months ago

            Please provide your evidence of “many people”

            even if only one person proved utterly disinterested in rehabilitating themselves, you’d still need some kind of escape hatch built into the system to handle them

            getting bogged down in specific frequencies is kind of missing the point

          • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
            61·
            10 months ago

            This is just the very first result in a litany of numerous results in a quick internet search for this. It seems there is no shortage of research on this topic available for you to read directly without my potential contamination of it. But, here’s a preview for you. Hope this helps.

            A 2021 meta-analysis conducted by international scholars from Spain, Bulgaria, Sweden and the UK found a significant portion of the human population to be psychopaths as defined by the PCL-R.

            The meta-analytical results obtained allow us to estimate the prevalence rate of psychopathy in the general adult population at 4.5%.

            Regarding the significance of psychopathy among people found guilty of a crime or incarcerated, they mention:

            the personality and behavior of offenders with a diagnosis of psychopathy are very different from those of other offenders.

            It’s important to note that I am not espousing a “version of justice” as you put it. My concern is simply with segregating harmful people from potential victims to prevent additional harm.

            • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
              11·
              10 months ago

              Science has discovered many (primarily) men in leadership roles (politics, business, etc) are sociopaths.

              Does that mean they’re supposed to be jailed as well … because nothing you’ve listed there talks about that.

              • intensely_human@lemm.ee
                51·
                10 months ago

                The claim isn’t that psychopaths must be jailed. It’s that psychopaths must be jailed when they engage in criminal behavior, because the non-jailing methods for rehabilitating people don’t work in psychopaths.