by smiddy 25 Replies latest social current
I'm not for it or against it and I have looked at the issues and I see based on emotion many are for it, and even torture is the emotional responce if strong against feelings exist.
On the other hand on a more logical kind of cold facts view of it, many will say it is not always a good idea to have a death penalty, and that better means of understanding causes and effect should come into play and what is better in a pragmatic sort of way.
Smiddy,
Sorry for having to leave the discussion and a Happy New Year!
If these perpretrators are identified as the culprits ? What say ye then ?
Identified how? Eye witness, fingerprints? DNA? confession? The thing is wrongful convictions do happen. The most stats I'm aware of are American, but after all we had the Lindy Chamberlain case here too. And then we are in the position that Dmouse outlined:
"It's wrong to kill, you are believed to have killed, so now we have to kill you."
I'm a mother and am very distressed and outraged by this case. But a quick and retaliatory response, while possibly helping some people to cope with the horror of this case, sets a very dangerous precedent. Wherever executions are legal, people have been unjustly executed. And that is equally horrific.
Worst of all is that cultural minorites, the poor, undereducated and mentally challenged are at greatest risk. Those with the capacity and means to hire the best legal advice and PR are rarely convicted. Remember OJ Simpson?
The alternatives have, for now, lower success rates and cost the taxpayer a lot. But as a civilized country, I don't believe we can afford to decend to retaliation to satisfy the popular media.
Retro
I think the death sentence is right for the most extreme crimes but it needs to be more than 'beyond resonable doubt, it needs to be 'without any doubt'.
There have been so many miscarriages of justice otherwise.
Confessions seem to be the weakest of all evidence.
Thank you all for your comments on this subject . Of course what I was saying is that their is ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT WHATSOEVER who the crime was committed by. In some cases their is absolutely no doubt , and in others as you have rightly pointed out their is an element of doubt , so no the death penalty should not be applied then.
I do realise you cannot rely on witnesses wholly, regardless of how many their may be ( to me that makes a mockery of the 2 witness rule )
I also realise you cannot rely on confessions as their are those who confess to crimes that they could not possibly commit .
And of course the judicial system is not without it`s faults whether human error or just being an imperfect system .
And their are many cases where the wrong person has been executed . As a young person I was very moved by the film "The OX BOW INCIDENT "
I wonder how our beleifs reflect how we responded to this topic , are beleivers more against the death penalty than atheists or agnostics ?
smiddy
smiddy- Believers vs Non-Believers in a diety and views on the Death Penalty. It would be interesting to see some research into that, I believed in the death penalty when I believed in a diety and now as a non-believer I do not.
If the death penalty was equally applied I would have no issues with it. I am disturbed that the wealthy are much less likely to recieve the death penalty than the poor. I am equally disturbed that statistics point to minorities are more likely to be sentenced to death than others.
