I guess, I just felt provoked into making this plain

[sweetprince]

I know that a good portion of America supports the death penalty. I understand why, although it breaks my heart a little. Because it's not about Justice, it's about revenge. There are just a lot of things that don't add up, you know? We must respect the "sanctity" of life of unborn fetuses, but fuck off if you think sentient independantly breathing criminals also should be allowed to continue in the world.

Part of it probably has to do with the way I was raised, or maybe I am just soft, and I can't really bear the thought of people dying when they shouldn't.

It is simply a fact that the death penalty does not deter crime. It is rather the likelihood of being caught that deters people. If the punishment for murdering somebody in broad daylight with thousands of people watching is the same as murdering somebody out in the wilderness with nobody for hundreds of miles, what's to stop a person from murdering during the day? Simple truth, thousands of people watching? No way you'd get away with it (unless your name is George W. Bush).

Most of the people wind up on death row live dangerous lives. The death penalty is no deterrent if within their average day on the streets they might get killed.

Furthermore, it's hardly cheaper to go around executing people rather than maintaining them in prison for the rest of their days. The state of Georgia spent $3 billion in 2003 executing people. Just imagine what that could've been better spent on like health care and schools and public works.

But it's not just that...

I suppose I believe that the only life a person has the right to take is their own. Although I do believe as John Locke says, "That which attempts to destroy me, I have the right to destroy." Although certainly, even in instances where people are trying to kill you, if it can be averted by anything less than fatal force, I'd be most partial to it.

Not to mention we can hardly claim to be better than criminals when we kill them. The problem with death is that it's so permanent. You can't take it back once the DNA you scrape off the electric chair exonerates them. For me, incarceration, better yet, justice is not about punitive measures, but preventative measures--to deter both the criminal and others who might follow their example.

Comments

[lekkerstuk.livejournal.com]

I think I'm coming from a different perspective. I'm also against the death penalty, but I completely appreciate why people want revenge. Some criminals do things so horrible it's hard to imagine still wanting them around. And I really think it's impossible to punish sociopaths because they are not capable of feeling remorse or even acknowledging that what they did is wrong.

So I understand why people feel a gut need to have a death penalty, but I think it is shameful that so many states in the US actually have it and implement it. It is basically just an organized lynch mob that comes in and out of vogue.

[dark-reaction.livejournal.com]

I understand why people want revenge, this does not mean that I condone it.

[lekkerstuk.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I feel like so much of police and legal systems are meant to protect people from things like violence and revenge, so it just seems to be a contradiction when the system itself does it.

[maboheme.livejournal.com]

Yep, it's about revenge. The DP just seems to still come from this barbaric/Dark Ages need to kill people as a sign of justice. I guess I shouldn't be shocked. We are still a country that preaches the sanctity of life and yet sends our military all over the world in wars that kill thousands of innocent people.

Besides the moral aspect, and the fact that the DP has no signs on deterrence, the DP itself is part of a legal system that is completely biased and steeped in institutional racism and classism. When I was an undergrad journalism student years ago, I worked in Chicago with an investigative team that was proving that all these death penalty cases were corrupt...they showed that something like 2/3 of the folks on death row in Illinois were actually innocent, and had ended up on death row due to prejudices in the legal system. This sort of investigative work would later force the Illinois governor to put a moratorium on the death penalty. Of course it just made me me wonder...how many innocent people are we killing and calling it justice?

[dark-reaction.livejournal.com]

I feel like it wouldn't matter to me if it deterred crime, because I still wouldn't condone it. It's like free speech is something that hurts people on occasion, but that doesn't mean that people shouldn't have the right. I feel like there are some things we should say we are above, and killing is one of them. I just wish that people would realize that just because you give execution a fancy name, doesn't mean it's anything less than murder.

[nargynargy.livejournal.com]

DNA you scrape off the electric chair exonerates them
Science is usually the biggest thing that filters through my brain these days and guides a lot of my decisions. Fact is, guilty beyond any reasonable doubt is guilty by today's science, it doesn't mean that the same thing applies in the future when new techniques are invented (re:DNA). Working in a scientific field has shown me that no way is anything completely fact even if we assume them to be; things are always adapted, overruled, discarded. Who knows how many people will be found innocent in the future?
Anyway, is that the right kind of statement our society wants to make to our children? History doesn't need more of this shit.

:( to maboheme comments

[dark-reaction.livejournal.com]

I'm not quite sure what you're criticizing here.

[nargynargy.livejournal.com]

Criticising the death penalty and agreeing with you o_o
To make it clearer cos my explanation may be off: people who are executed may be innocent as proven by the today's science but there may be new techniques that prove them innocent in the future.
It just bothers me because science is not always true 'fact' even if there is loads of proof for it. A lot of cases are ruled by the 'scientific evidence', so taking a life based on that reason is not warranted. DNA evidence is just an example of that.

Better? I think I'm confusing. *gives up*

In summary: I agree with you!

[dark-reaction.livejournal.com]

Ahah, I was just...confused. Altogether. But now I know what you are saying, and yes I agree with you. Given the nature of things, I would much rather not legislate someone's death and then turn out to be wrong.