The death penalty

[innerSpaceman]

Blind and toothless, anyone?

[mhrc4]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Blind and toothless, anyone?

sounds good, im for it!

[wendybeth]

Once again, the old red herring gets thrown in the ring before any serious discussion can begin. This thread is about the Death Penalty, not abortion, and if one feels like starting an abortion thread, by all means, go ahead. Don't hijack another's thread to do it- not cool at all.

I think my opinion has obviously been influenced by personal events, but I can project myself out of those and look at it fairly dispassionately. I believe in the concept of the Social Contract - you live in a society, you live by their rules. You commit an atrocity like murder- and I don't mean heat of the moment or vehicular homicide- I mean a calculated, cold blooded murder, well then you know what dues you may have to pay. The man that murdered that little five year old a few years ago in California? Death penalty. Charles Manson? Death. The BTK killer? Death, even though he gets to skate because the penalty wasn't in effect during his rampage. There is no rehabilitating these monsters. They are outside of society, and chose to be that way. Even so , I think the evidence must be incontrovertable- DNA, confession, whatever. Texas is playing it too fast and loose, and I fear that innocent people may be falling victim.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Here are a few quotes from Amnesty International. I'll understand if they are taken with a grain of salt.

More than 75 men and women have been released from US death rows since 1972, after suffering the horror of being sentenced to death and incarcerated for a crime they did not commit.(7) Remedying these hideous mistakes took anywhere from two to 22 years; many of these innocent people came within hours of execution.

For every six prisoners executed since the reinstatement of the US death penalty, one innocent person was condemned to die and later exonerated. How many equally blameless but less fortunate prisoners still await execution - or have already gone to their deaths - may never be known.

I'm just not comfortable with those numbers. I understand the human desire for vengeance and I won't deny that there are some people who a part of me says "Fry 'em!" And like NA, if someone brutally murdered a loved one, there would be a strong desire to want to send them to hell myself. I just don't think it is my decision to make, as to who lives and dies. And god forbid, if I was wrong. Like I said earlier this isn't a mistake that can be corrected. If we are going to have to death penalty, it has to be onyl in cases where guilt is absolute. I don't know that our system can guarantee that.