I am against it, like most European
adults I would add. There are an outstanding
number of capital punishment supporters on here, whether due to age or
nationality I don’t know.
Firstly, the cost: to all those
discussing this, step back for a minute. Even if it’s 10x more expensive, 10x
less expensive or costs the same as life in prison, it’s completely deluded to
reduce the justice system to simply whatever is cheapest, it defies the point
of having one. I mean, it’s probably cheaper to just have no trials ever and
send anyone arrested straight to prison. Or why not just mass execute all those
serving jail time of 20 years or more huh? Much simpler. . .
Similarly, to all those posting pictures
of ‘nice comfy prisons’ most of that is basic human rights. The point of prison
is that you have had your freedom
taken away from you. So what if you’ve got a playstation and a microwave, it’s
not like you can leave the room whenever you want, go into town for a drink, or
sit outside all day long in the sun.
Also, no justice system is
perfect. Trials can be complicated, everyone should have a right to a re-trial,
especially in cases where new evidence comes up, and it is not unheard of for
people to be released midway through life sentences etc. Retrials are particularly
hard to apply for if you are dead. (Also I just watched the film ’12 angry men’,
food for thought.)
To those supporting death as a
just response to a crime, where do you draw the line? What kind of murderer
should get the death penalty? What if they kill 1 person? Or 2? Or 50? Or 1
toddler? What about a manslaughter case with 20 victims? We don’t know what all
murderers ‘deserve’. They may have
serious psychological issues, mitigating circumstances or yes, some may just be
plain fucked up, but does every death ‘deserve’
another one to make up for it?
You also completely ignore the
idea of reform. We know that other criminals often do their time and come out
changed men. Why should this be impossible for murderers?
The main thing that worries me
however, is the central fact that in supporting capital punishment, we assume
that we have some self-given right to take someone else’s life from them. No-one
has that right, and that is why (in short) murderers are bad and go to prison. It
is not up to us to apply our subjective opinions of morality and justice upon
someone else when the result is death. The more I think about it, the more it
astounds me how serious a thing it is to take someone else’s life. Yes, that is
why murderers are despicable people, but a justice system based on retaliation
not rehabilitation is not justice, it
is revenge and it leads to nothing
but more problems.
yeah i know, tl;dr
