Comments on: How to be against the death penalty and keep the kids off the lawn at the same time https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/09/22/how-to-be-against-the-death-penalty-and-keep-the-kids-off-the-lawn-at-the-same-time/ Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:40:15 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.6 By: Paxton Dolan https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/09/22/how-to-be-against-the-death-penalty-and-keep-the-kids-off-the-lawn-at-the-same-time/#comment-11718 Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:40:15 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=277#comment-11718 I agree that while we may want a person to die for a wrong they have committed, in the end that is not our decision to make. I know that personally, I would feel that wishing someone would die is just as bad as killing them myself. I would never want to have that on my conscience, which is why I am firmly against the death penalty.

]]> By: The outrage over Troy Davis, vs the outrage over the Death Penalty | Lousy Canuck https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/09/22/how-to-be-against-the-death-penalty-and-keep-the-kids-off-the-lawn-at-the-same-time/#comment-11717 Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:40:41 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=277#comment-11717 […] I said over at X Blog, Canada has executed a “mere” 710 people in its history. We lost our taste for the […]

]]> By: SundogA https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/09/22/how-to-be-against-the-death-penalty-and-keep-the-kids-off-the-lawn-at-the-same-time/#comment-11716 Thu, 22 Sep 2011 22:49:14 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=277#comment-11716 No doubt of that, itzac. The whole “deterrance” argument is utterly without worth.

]]> By: itzac https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/09/22/how-to-be-against-the-death-penalty-and-keep-the-kids-off-the-lawn-at-the-same-time/#comment-11715 Thu, 22 Sep 2011 21:05:30 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=277#comment-11715 And ain’t it grand, Jason?

If the purpose of the death penalty is to prevent a future crime, shouldn’t the fact it’s practiced in parts of the county with higher crime rates be a clear indication it’s an utter failure?

]]> By: Jason Thibeault https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/09/22/how-to-be-against-the-death-penalty-and-keep-the-kids-off-the-lawn-at-the-same-time/#comment-11714 Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:27:27 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=277#comment-11714 Canada lost its taste for capital punishment in 1976 after 710 executions since the country’s inception. I can’t say that we have been any less ridiculous about our criminal justice system as a result, though. Our current government is all about putting as many people into megajails as humanly possible for the most tenuous of crimes.

]]> By: Randomfactor https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/09/22/how-to-be-against-the-death-penalty-and-keep-the-kids-off-the-lawn-at-the-same-time/#comment-11713 Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:45:19 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=277#comment-11713 That’s exactly how Dukakis should’ve handled the question.

I would want to kill the offender with my bare hands; the justice system protects me from my own self-destructive impulses as well as protecting society from crime.

]]> By: SundogA https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/09/22/how-to-be-against-the-death-penalty-and-keep-the-kids-off-the-lawn-at-the-same-time/#comment-11712 Thu, 22 Sep 2011 14:32:25 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=277#comment-11712 I actually support the Death Penalty in some cases. I honestly believe there are some people who need to be removed from even the possibility of further interaction with our society. But those would have to be people for which there is simply no rational doubt as to guilt – certainly not in this case. And if another effective option was available – some type of permanet exile, perhaps, or a truly escape proof form of imprisonment – then I would certainly not insist upon death.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/09/22/how-to-be-against-the-death-penalty-and-keep-the-kids-off-the-lawn-at-the-same-time/#comment-11711 Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:48:16 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=277#comment-11711 David, there are all sorts of reasons to be in favor of, or against, the death penalty.

]]> By: David Evans https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/09/22/how-to-be-against-the-death-penalty-and-keep-the-kids-off-the-lawn-at-the-same-time/#comment-11710 Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:33:10 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=277#comment-11710 Greg:

OK, my extension of your comment was illegitimate. I still think your wording is tendentious. You assume that those in favor of the death penalty must be motivated by fear or annoyance. I think there are other motives – deterrence, or a desire for justice. I have no reason to fear someone on Death Row in the US – even if released, they are not going to cross the Atlantic to get me. And “annoy” is a weak and trivializing word in this context.

“Those are not a priori truths”. I did not claim them as such. I was talking about feelings.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2011/09/22/how-to-be-against-the-death-penalty-and-keep-the-kids-off-the-lawn-at-the-same-time/#comment-11709 Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:14:48 +0000 http://freethoughtblogs.com/xblog/?p=277#comment-11709 That’s tendentious wording. Do we imprison criminals because they frighten or annoy us? No, we do it for some combination of punishment, deterrence and crime prevention.

Me? Tendentious?

You’ve extended my comment to be about things it is not about. So the answer to the question you ask is no, why would you think that?

Is wanting a murderer to die a hateful emotion? I’m not sure. What I feel about some murderers can be put in two ways:

One could define hate to mean that wanting someone to die is always hateful. Or not.

By taking away someone’s life they have forfeited their own right to life

or

By violating the implicit contract at the base of society, they have lost the benefits of that contract.

Those are not a priori truths. There is no immutable rule humans must follow that says that there is a way to forfeit your life by your actions. The contract of which you speak is evidence of that: There can be such a contract, or not. That’s why it is a contract!

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