Why hasn't the Joker been executed?

[Roliver Queen]

Ain't there supposedly 3 running around anyways?

So would it really matter if you killed one?

[jetengine]

This is the issue with "Joker kills hundreds at a time" he suddenly becomes a figure that needs to be killed rather then an unpredictable lunatic.

[Captain Smith]

He's not executed for the same reason that someone hasn't shot Bats dead by now. There is always some out, escape, miss, dodge - OR as stated above both make money for DC.

Spectre gave him a mental health pass and Specs loves to kill people, in some of his versions.

[cc008]

Because Frank Castle is a Marvel property.

[Somecrazyaussie]

I don't know if the, "insane" thing really holds up. If it really came to it, would Joker really not understand what was happening and why it was happening? Seems like he understands his actions and their consequences perfectly fine to me. Just being sick, crazy, mentally ill, etc. isn't enough to get you off the hook.

It is. A good defense attorney could easily spin the Joker's actions as being born from a deranged mind. For starters, he took a dip in a chemical bath. An experience that is highly traumatic. They could also argue that the chemicals screwed with him on a biological level. Fundamentally altering his brain chemistry.

If the Joker just straight up killed (shooting them etc) people, he could be in trouble. But the way in which he goes about killing them often involves methods that are so bat-**** crazy that there is no doubt he isn't right in the top block.

[Somecrazyaussie]

This is the issue with "Joker kills hundreds at a time" he suddenly becomes a figure that needs to be killed rather then an unpredictable lunatic.

Exactly. DC have gone to great lengths to play up how dangerous the Joker is, that it has long since passed the point where one could say he is just a lunatic.

[ngroove]

One answer: mainstream comics.

Mainstream comics, DC / Marvel, in which no main, important villain is truly allowed to die permanently, or even longer than just a few years. Exception to my knowledge, Flash, which after every time Mirror Master, Reverse Flash, Trickster, Top, ect, dies, they become interchangeably replaced by Mirror Master II, Trickster II, Professor Zoom II, ect.

Of course, that exception that has the law of justice taking affect on bad enough villains, rests on non-mainstream comics, that plays out their stories to execute arch-villains like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' Shredder and Savage Dragon's Overlord. Sole exception that proven popularity kept him alive: Walking Dead's Negan.

[Agent Z]

It is. A good defense attorney could easily spin the Joker's actions as being born from a deranged mind. For starters, he took a dip in a chemical bath. An experience that is highly traumatic. They could also argue that the chemicals screwed with him on a biological level. Fundamentally altering his brain chemistry.

If the Joker just straight up killed (shooting them etc) people, he could be in trouble. But the way in which he goes about killing them often involves methods that are so bat-**** crazy that there is no doubt he isn't right in the top block.

Given that said bat-**** crazy methods tend to work, I don't think the insanity defense should be effective at all. His schemes are far too elaborate.

[Frobisher]

They could do a story where the 1% of the 1% are intentionally keeping him alive as an agent provocateur. Unless that’s already been done.

[jetengine]

It is. A good defense attorney could easily spin the Joker's actions as being born from a deranged mind. For starters, he took a dip in a chemical bath. An experience that is highly traumatic. They could also argue that the chemicals screwed with him on a biological level. Fundamentally altering his brain chemistry.

If the Joker just straight up killed (shooting them etc) people, he could be in trouble. But the way in which he goes about killing them often involves methods that are so bat-**** crazy that there is no doubt he isn't right in the top block.

I think your wrong there.

Criminal insanity is a surprisingly thin line, he effectively has to be so insane that he cannot take responsibility for his actions, ie hes not aware. However the fact that he can intricately plan heists and such showcase he is indeed aware of what he's doing and is just an *******

[Desmark]

Because Frank Castle is a Marvel property.

Lol wouldn't help matters. When has Frank managed to kill the likes of Kingpin and Green Goblin? Forget them he hasn't even managed to kill the jackal or Bullseye when he engaged with them.

[bat39]

So I recently read this Golden Age story titled "The Joker Walks the Last Mile", which, interestingly enough, might provide a canonical explanation/justification for the Joker not being executed.

Basically, in that story, the Joker turns himself in and is sentenced to death for all his crimes. After being electrocuted, his henchmen kidnap his corpse and revive him using a serum he developed. So now legally, the Joker was executed and thus paid for all his past crimes.

Now, after that story, the Joker largely became more of a prankster villain and criminal mastermind than a mass murderer/terrorist. So it explains why no one sought to execute him again. But, by the time he became a killer again, the courts probably concluded that a) he just really is that insane, given how he keeps reinventing himself, and b) executing him doesn't work since it was tried and he came back to life with a clean slate, legally speaking!

[witchboy]

So I recently read this Golden Age story titled "The Joker Walks the Last Mile", which, interestingly enough, might provide a canonical explanation/justification for the Joker not being executed.

Basically, in that story, the Joker turns himself in and is sentenced to death for all his crimes. After being electrocuted, his henchmen kidnap his corpse and revive him using a serum he developed. So now legally, the Joker was executed and thus paid for all his past crimes.

Now, after that story, the Joker largely became more of a prankster villain and criminal mastermind than a mass murderer/terrorist. So it explains why no one sought to execute him again. But, by the time he became a killer again, the courts probably concluded that a) he just really is that insane, given how he keeps reinventing himself, and b) executing him doesn't work since it was tried and he came back to life with a clean slate, legally speaking!

I recently read the Golden Age Batman omnibuses. They mention Gotham having the death penalty a lot back in the forties. There's also no Arkham then, the criminals all just went to prison but they escaped a lot.
Even more strangely, Penguin got paroled several times after seemingly short stays since his last escape and a pretty long list of crimes.
It is noteworthy that by the late 40s it's very much moved into the style we recognize from the Adam West series. Lots of jewel thieves and high end robberies with no street crime and not much violence.
And for what it's worth, I'm a liberal and I while I generally am not pro death penalty, if violent costumed killers were regularly escaping prison or mental hospitals to go on killing sprees - like multiple ones every year - I'd be supporting changing the laws to put a stop to it. But it's one of those things you have to suspend disbelief on.

[Jim Kelly]

So I recently read this Golden Age story titled "The Joker Walks the Last Mile", which, interestingly enough, might provide a canonical explanation/justification for the Joker not being executed.

Basically, in that story, the Joker turns himself in and is sentenced to death for all his crimes. After being electrocuted, his henchmen kidnap his corpse and revive him using a serum he developed. So now legally, the Joker was executed and thus paid for all his past crimes.

Now, after that story, the Joker largely became more of a prankster villain and criminal mastermind than a mass murderer/terrorist. So it explains why no one sought to execute him again. But, by the time he became a killer again, the courts probably concluded that a) he just really is that insane, given how he keeps reinventing himself, and b) executing him doesn't work since it was tried and he came back to life with a clean slate, legally speaking!

^^^
This.

Originally, in BATMAN No. 1 (1940), Bill Finger had the Joker die at the end of his second appearance in that issue. Editor Whitney Ellsworth had him change the ending, so he actually survived. They realized that killing off this character would be a mistake.

In present day, even if Gotham changed its laws on execution, they would have to go through a long process to change the law. Then they would have to select a method of execution. In states where lethal drugs are used to kill prisoners, the suppliers in other countries have refused to export those drugs for the purpose of execution. And the drugs that are used aren't 100% effective and constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Anyone sentenced to death has a right to appeal and it takes a long time for those appeals to go through the courts. It would take some years to get the Joker executed, by which time he would have escaped imprisonment.

Really, the Joker is not in custody long enough for the state to carry out his execution. I think it's far more likely that vigilantes would try to kill him. So if you really want to get this valuable DC property removed from the comic books, you're going to have to hire a comic book hitman to do the job.

And really he's unkillable. Even if a Joker dies, another one takes his place. Given he has no known origin and no known true identity, how would we even know if the real Joker was killed?

[Gaastra]

Because Frank Castle is a Marvel property.

Hitman is a dc property.

Lol wouldn't help matters. When has Frank managed to kill the likes of Kingpin and Green Goblin?

He killed kingpin right before the last secret wars but his death was reset back by mr fantastic along with everyone else.

It's comics so yeah jokers alive (he is batman biggest bad guy so they can't kill him off for good. Even if they do he will be back!) but in the real world they would have killed him along time ago. He has killed way to many people by this point.