Decius wrote:
] This is an occasion to discuss my perspective on the Death
] Penalty.

Good! Some real meaty stuff to polarize the communitiy and get some good disucssions going. Let me start by saying that i basically agree, and oppose capital punishment on primarily moral grounds... grounds which argue that, as you say, capital punishment is more retribution than deterrent, and that retribution without need is barbarism.

] We have a real problem in America with oversimplified
] responses to complex problems.

] Americans believe, ultimately, that violence solves problems.

both excellent points. it comes down, in the end, as you touch on, to the fact that violence is the instant gratification solution, easier than establishing a framework for evaluating, analysing and responding to societal problems with reason and fairness. in cases where the latter is impossible (such as, the moment i am being attacked by a mugger), there may be no other viable response which preserves your own existence or way of life... any other time, there's almost certainly a better, if harder, way to approach the situation.

to argue a devils advocate position for a sec, a strictly rational analysis could factor in probailities of rehabilitation and come to the conclusion that certain classes of criminal will never be capable of safely existing within the confines of society. Isn't it possible that at a certain point, the costs of keeping this person alive and safely outside the system, for 30, 40, 50 years, become unjustifible? Of course, you get into difficult arguments about how much a mans life is worth... is one mans life worth more than another? What if the money used to pay for his incarceration was used to fund programs to reduce drug use, improve schools, save the lives of impoverished children. Is this mans life worth the death or suffering of others? Obviously our system is not set up in such a way that such redistribution of funds would be automatic, but could it be? Is there a solution in which there is a net benefit to permanent removal of unrehabilitatable felons?

RE: Executed Offenders - My thoughts on the death penalty.