Death penalty lacks moral ground

BSU DAILY NEWS ^ | 4.2.03 | Ben McShane

[paulsy]

"I didn't cut and paste anything except an address."

My point. "When you post flawed data, that doesn't further your aim."

Nor does your extending of absolutes in every case when drawn from pieces here and there; but I suppose we're both guilty of this?

[1L]

Nor does your extending of absolutes in every case when drawn from pieces here and there

Huh? How exactly did I do that?

[Bonaparte]

"Still though, the issue of innocents being put to death is a compelling one. When we can knock that one out of the way then I will be persuaded that our system is capable of enforcing the death penalty with full competence."

God's justice is perfect, man's justice is and forever will be imperfect. It's a bitter truth that some will use as an excuse to do no justice at all. The same people who cite condemnation of the innocent as an excuse to condemn no one, will avoid mentioning that the guilty are often set free by the same imperfect system. And those murderers who are unjustly set free are likely to murder more innocent people. Either way, we will have innocent people dying unjustly.

Here's a critique of the "innocence" controversy.

And here's more commentary on justification for the death penalty. If you scroll down, there's some thoughtful coverage of the Biblical aspects in both old and new testaments. The best book I've seen on this subject is Capital Punishment: What The Bible Says, Lloyd R. Bailey, Abingdon Press, 1987.

[paulsy]

Thank you Bonaparte. I will look over these things.

[Myrddin]

A small number of people are responsible for the majority of crime in society. Most of them are multiple offenders. That is exactly why 3 strikes is so effective in cutting crime rates. Capital crimes are given that designation because we don't want to wait for "3 strikes" to decide to permanently remove that type of offender from society. Such individuals should NEVER be returned to society.

The claim that the death penalty is racist is false. Blacks commit homicide at rates approximately 8 times as high as whites. Mostly against other blacks. Black crime occurs at rates far higher than their representation in the general population. Comparing the racial demographics of prison populations to the general population is a fallacious means of claiming racism.

[Bonaparte]

An additional statistic is that black-on-white crime (both violent crime and property crime) occurs at a much higher rate than white-on-black crime.

[Kevin Curry]

A citzenry that does not sense that justice is done, that understands that the state will undertake to protect a man who has brutally taken the life another without justification--and not merely protect the murderer, but preserve him with taxpayer-paid lifelong medical care, food, and shelter that an honest man must work his whole life to obtain--will be sorely tempted to take vengeance privately.

We permit the state to take life under limited and controlled circustances so others will not impose private justice under arbitrary and uncontrolled circumstances.

[LibKill]

I don't understand this type of weenie. EVERYONE is going to die. The death penalty just speeds up that process.

[wcbtinman]

"If a man serves a life-without-parole sentence in a maximum-security, solitary confinement prison, he will never murder again."

(Not directed at you LL.) Would that be before or after some socialist feel-good governior pardons him? Or commutes his sentence like the governor of NM did on the last day of his term? Or would he just confine his murders to the inside of the prison?

[Wondervixen]

I wish they'd just leave it up to a vote of us taxpayers..."Would YOU care to pay extra taxes to keep killers the rest of their lives or just bow out of the caretaking fiscal responsibility?"

Those who WANT to pay for it, knock yourselves out...Those of us who don't, wouldn't.

[Joe 6-pack]

Capital Punishment is Life Affirming.

[wcbtinman]

I have a short story for those who believe that capital punishment is not a deterrent.

About 25 or so years ago, there was a robbery of a small roadside grocery store in a small town in nothern FL. The clerk on duty at the time was a 20 year old woman who was 6 months pregnant. During the robbery, she was killed execution style by the perp.

When the bad guy was eventually caught, he was asked why he shot the clerk, since it was obvious that she offered no resistance.

His reply was that since the penalty for armed robbery was the same as it was for murder, (life) why would he leave a witness to the crime?

This happened just before FL re-instituted the death penalty. Those with a "moral" problem with the death penalty had better re-examine their morals.

[nmh]

The Bible is quite clear that capital punishment, when just has His approval. I suppose the Judeo Christian God is immoral now. Does the blasphemy ever end or must we wait till He returns to stop this maddness.