Anti-abortion is protecting the innocent. Pro-death penalty is punishing the guilty. There is no conflict with being pro-life and pro-death penalty, provided all reasonable precautions are taken to ensure that no innocent people are executed. Given our appeals processes and our public subsidy of legal representation for the accused, I think the standard of "reasonable precaution" is met. It may be frustrating to have people on death row for so long, but I think it helps prevent the execution of people who are actually innocent.
Not to mention that it is scriptural.
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image. (Genesis 9:6)
Pro-war? Very few are "pro-war". People want peace. Sometimes this requires us to fight for the right to live peacefully and in freedom. Again I see no conflict.
This seems like a characture of my argument. I don't think I am making the argument that we should not punish the guilty. I am arguing that governments are always fallible. Death is final and we can never revive someone once we discover they are innocent. In the interest of the innocent, we should avoid giving the ultimate sentence of death that can never be revoked.
Given our appeals processes and our public subsidy of legal representation for the accused, I think the standard of "reasonable precaution" is met.
What constitutes "reasonable precaution"? After reading the below stories, I do not think our judicial system has institutred "reasonable precaution." Have I now created a simplistic portrayal of your argument? (I probably have, so feel free to help me along/correct me.)
JIMMY WINGO Dixie Inn, LA
CM's investigation yielded videotaped recantations by the two main state witnesses who admitted they were coerced by a deputy sheriff into lying at Jimmy Wingo's trial. A dismissive Louisiana Governor and Board of Pardons rejected this strong evidence. Wingo, an innocent man, was executed by electric chair on June 16, 1987, for a 1983 Dixie Inn, LA, murder.
· Morning Advocate, June 17, 1987: "Wingo's Case First Failure for McCloskey."
ROGER COLEMAN Grundy, VA
CM's four-year investigation of this 1981 Appalachian murder in Grundy, VA, produced scores of affidavits which plainly showed who the real killers were, and completely unraveled the State's weak case against Roger Coleman at trial. Nevertheless, the courts refused to grant a hearing and the Governor declined to intervene. Coleman was executed on May 20, 1992, still proclaiming his innocence even while in the electric chair. A superbly written book by John Tucker entitled May God Have Mercy (1997, W.W. Norton) tells the Coleman story. In the spring of 2001, CM returned to the Virginia Judiciary to petition it to allow post execution DNA analysis to go forward.
· Los Angeles Times: David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer, July 22, 2001: " '92 Execution Haunts Death Penalty Foes."