>>>>>For me its a red herring. The state should never kill .
>>>>
>>>>I agree with that...and I think more Americans are believing that each year.
>>>
>>>I don't know about that. There is an anger level in this country that is just below the boiling point.
>>>
>>>Here is the paradox I don't get. A death sentence essentially says you have done the most unforgivable thing you can do, which is take a human life. And for that we are going to kill you.
>>
>>Seems pretty clear. Object lesson, punishment and prophylaxis - not to mention if done properly ( i.e in a very timely fashion) much cheaper than room and board forever.
>
>Cheaper is true. But studies show capital punishment is not a deterrent.
>
>Have you been following the case in Texas?
Obviously if there is a lack of certainty as to guilt ( in the actual, not legal sense ) the death penalty isn't appropriate. There are cases based on scraps of iffy DNA or an iffy eye witness and cases where an atrocity is committed on live television or in front of 100 witnesses or the murderer is apprehended still holding the knife. Horses for courses. But if there is absolute certainty about who dun it, them what dun it ought to be dun - on national television the next day.
Deterrent? I don't think that is even an issue. It is a deterrent to recidivism and draining public resources.
Charles Hankey
Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened.
- Thomas Hardy
Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm-- but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.
-- T. S. Eliot
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.
- Ben Franklin
Pardon him, Theodotus. He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.
