SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post

AngusJS · 06-09-09, 07:39 AM

The death penalty is a bad idea all around. It assumes complete certainty where no such thing exists. Think of all the people cleared by DNA evidence. I guarantee everyone who prosecuted them was certain they were guilty...until they found out they were innocent. Oops!

Without the death penalty, every injustice committed by the state can at least potentially be righted. With the death penalty, that's not the case. The state has to be 100% right all of the time. When the justice system fails in a capital case, the injustice it has perpetrated cannot be righted - its victim is dead. The death penalty is applied for exactly these situations: someone is wrongly killed by another, and no justice is possible for the victim - he's dead. Why do you want to allow the same thing to happen all over again, except this time at the hands of the state? Apparently, death penalty advocates usually get around this by simply not caring.

Think of all the people cleared by DNA evidence. How many innocent people were killed throughout American history when there was still no such thing? I guess they don't count.

Think of all the problems present in the system: crap eyewitness testimony, false confessions, police tampering with evidence, police lying under oath, police departments that destroy evidence after convictions are obtained, prosecutors withholding evidence from the defense, underfunded public defenders, public defenders who fall asleep during trials... all feeding into an antagonistic process whose result will be decided by a bunch of people who have nothing better to do than sit on a jury (How many of them know about false confessions and the huge problems with eyewitness testimony? How many still don't know about them after they've handed down a guilty verdict in a capital case?).

Humans are fallible. Systems break down. Entrusting such a problematic system with the ability to take someone's life is not a good idea.

If I was the POS mentioned in the first post, I would welcome the death penalty, if I wasn't able to kill myself first that is. Imagine living with yourself after doing something like that. In this case, is it not worse punishment to be sentenced to go live with other animals such as yourself for the rest of your life, rather than have it all end after a few years?

06-09-09, 07:39 AM	#12
AngusJS Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 746 Downloads: 62 Uploads: 0	The death penalty is a bad idea all around. It assumes complete certainty where no such thing exists. Think of all the people cleared by DNA evidence. I guarantee everyone who prosecuted them was certain they were guilty...until they found out they were innocent. Oops! Without the death penalty, every injustice committed by the state can at least potentially be righted. With the death penalty, that's not the case. The state has to be 100% right all of the time. When the justice system fails in a capital case, the injustice it has perpetrated cannot be righted - its victim is dead. The death penalty is applied for exactly these situations: someone is wrongly killed by another, and no justice is possible for the victim - he's dead. Why do you want to allow the same thing to happen all over again, except this time at the hands of the state? Apparently, death penalty advocates usually get around this by simply not caring. Think of all the people cleared by DNA evidence. How many innocent people were killed throughout American history when there was still no such thing? I guess they don't count. Think of all the problems present in the system: crap eyewitness testimony, false confessions, police tampering with evidence, police lying under oath, police departments that destroy evidence after convictions are obtained, prosecutors withholding evidence from the defense, underfunded public defenders, public defenders who fall asleep during trials... all feeding into an antagonistic process whose result will be decided by a bunch of people who have nothing better to do than sit on a jury (How many of them know about false confessions and the huge problems with eyewitness testimony? How many still don't know about them after they've handed down a guilty verdict in a capital case?). Humans are fallible. Systems break down. Entrusting such a problematic system with the ability to take someone's life is not a good idea. If I was the POS mentioned in the first post, I would welcome the death penalty, if I wasn't able to kill myself first that is. Imagine living with yourself after doing something like that. In this case, is it not worse punishment to be sentenced to go live with other animals such as yourself for the rest of your life, rather than have it all end after a few years? Last edited by AngusJS; 06-09-09 at 07:54 AM.