postmortem !!Qe8ScDbX+ started this discussion 12 years ago#36,354
So, I was watching some show about death-row inmates, and realized I was pretty strongly against the death penalty. First of all there is no practical reason for it, it doesn't prevent crime, and it costs more money to put someone to death than it does to put them in prison for life.
From an emotional level I think it's first of all pointless, killing someone isn't going to bring back the people they killed, it just kills an additional person. It's not like the murderer can even feel bad, they're dead.
I believe it's flat out wrong because I don't think one person's actions make another person's actions acceptable. If you punch me in the face, and I punch you in the face 3 days later, I still committed assault even if you did, too. If you kill my child, and I turn around and kill you, or your child I'm still a murderer. The death penalty tells us that in some cases murder is an absolutely fine thing to do.
And ultimately who are you really hurting when you put someone to death? Once the individual is dead they aren't hurt, but rather their family, and friends are hurt. By putting someone to death you also hurt their mother, their mother now has to go through the pain of losing a child, and she didn't do anything wrong at all, yet she is getting arguably the worst punishment.
If you're a mother of a victim then it's terrible, I'm sure, but at least you have nothing, but support. Imagine waiting for your child's imminent execution while masses cheer on the death. How much more awful that must be.
And what if someone killed someone I loved, wouldn't I want them dead? First of all, that's not the point of the law. A big point of the law is to have a system that doesn't just go on gut reactions that we as flawed, irrational human beings make. The law is supposed to be more like the law of averages. If 100 people guess how many jelly beans are in a jar, the average guess will probably be pretty close to the correct answer. So, one person making all the decisions, probably not a great idea, but hopefully the larger group making the decisions will come to better conclusions. It doesn't always work that way, but that's the idea. But secondly, no I wouldn't. Me killing someone else, and hurting their family would do nothing for me, it would just cause more harm, I really don't see the point.