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Originally Posted by Boreas
I'm not sure how you can guarantee that a guilty verdict is 100% certain. That's why we speak of "reasonable doubt" or "preponderance of the evidence". Anyway, besides a desire for "eye for an eye" type vengeance, what does execution do that "life without" doesn't do? As far as I'm concerned, there are no societal benefits to the death penalty and some significant negatives.
John
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One thing that the death penalty does is to bring "closure" to the families of the victims. And one benefit of the death penalty is to save the taxpayer from having to support these animals.
Now I don't wish to paint everyone who has done time as an "animal", but perhaps my perception on this matter is different than yours. You weren't active on this forum when I explained how I used to work at the Missouri State Penitentiary in the early 80's, while it was the only maximum security institution in the state. Perhaps I'm prejudiced, but I can guarantee you, it wasn't filled with "good old boys" who made a mistake.
They were a hard lot, doing "life and 50" was more the norm as the exception, and I would imagine that having pretty much any of them as a neighbor would cause even the Brady bunch to reevaluate their position on the subject "to keep and bear arms".
That said, I'm not as big of a proponent of the death penalty as I once was. But some of the crimes that some of these people commit are so brutal and obscene that stoning them to death doesn't appear unreasonable.
Sometimes, they just need to go. And this isn't a thought which brings a smile to my face.
Chas