Quote:
Originally Posted by willravel
In my humble opinion, the death penalty runs in opposition to the spirit of punishment: to teach a lesson. If someone kills someone else, and is found to be sane, this person needs to be taught that murder is wrong. You can't learn if you're dead. I know what kind of an investment it is to try and teach someone basic morality, but it is necessary to have a functional society.
If you aren't punishing to teach someone, you are doing it out of revenge (I don't consider deterrance to be a reason for killing someone). There is no justice in revenge, so it has no place in the justice system. Vengence under the guise of justice is an easy way to get away with murder. That's the death penalty; vengence in the guise of justice.
Even if I did think it morally acceptable to kill someone, the system that executes the order is flawed in many ways. People are exonerated from death row, which means they might have been put to death (a very final punishment) while they were innocent. That simply isn't worth the risk. Would you kill someone if there were a chance they were innocent?
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People who do not know killing is wrong are not convicted, that is valid grounds for an insanity plea. You are naively ignoring the fact that almost all sane murderers
know that killing is wrong, and do it anyway. We don't have to "teach them that murder is wrong", they already know it and murdered anyway.
The reason there is a death row is so that people have a chance to be exonerated; the time spent waiting for all of the appeals to go through is
very long. In the end we have exhausted every reasonable doubt of innocence. Rational people can then apply the appropriate punishment; second guessing at that point boarders on insanity. When you back your car out of the driveway do you check your mirrors? There is always the possibility that there might be a small child behind your tires, having arrived there through methods unknown.
In then end I bet you back up anyway, trusting that your reasonably sufficient observations have found the truth. Well, in America by law you need 12 different people to agree on the truth plus any other combinations of people through all the appeals for someone to be executed. Unless you have more than 12 people agreeing that your tires are clear of children...
I leave you to flounder in the hypocrisy of your stance.