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lockedaway -> RE: Troy Davis is now dead... (9/22/2011 5:06:03 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: blnymph
show these protests: browse european tv newsreels of yesterday
"at least would if they or their families ..." - I can speak for myself: as mentioned before some of my family had been murdered/executed by the Nazi regime - and I am AGAINST any form of death penalty
and if you doubt the whole world (except China and Iran executing in similar numbers than the US and a few more other countries where executions occur in lesser numbers ... no apologies for that: every execution is one too many in my view and a crime against fundamental human rights):
see the UN resolutions I mentioned earlier and the European human rights convention ...
or is the United Nations not enough "world" for you?
Ok...so that's your opinion and here's mine. I LOVE the death penalty! The problem with the death penalty is that it is not public enough. People say that the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime. It would be if done properly, i.e. a hanging by the neck with the body swaying in the breeze from noon to six p.m. But even performed improperly, it is the ultimate deterrent to the recidivism of the person put to death.
The death penalty is reserved for capital crimes usually where a victim or two has ended up dead. As it stands, it is a weak vindication for the loved ones of those victims and society at large because people may sit on death row for a decade or more before they are put to death by lethal injection which is infinitely more merciful than what the perpetrator meted out to his/her victim.
If I had my way, I would expand the death penalty certain crimes. I would have a "beyond all doubt" standard of proof that applied to the penalty phase to convert a jail sentence to a death sentence. For example, back in the 80's some guy grabbed a 14 year old girl, raped her and cut off her hands and feet with an axe and left her to die in a ditch. She survived. The man committed the crimes of aggravated sexual assault and mayhem. He got a number of years in jail. If that crime had been committed while being captured on video, he would have been put to death under my legal reform. The crimes I would extend the death penalty to with the penalty phase standard of "beyond all doubt" would be aggravated sexual assault, any crime involving mayhem and felony murder. I would also extend it to the distribution of narcotics to anyone 13 years of age or younger where such distribution leads to the death of the minor.
You know, its funny. People talk about how death penalty is an offense against God and our universal human rights. And yet those same people support abortion. These people espouse the benefits of socialism, liberalism, progressive politics and communism but they ignore the offense those political theories are to the concept of free will or liberty.
We live in a society of laws. Yes, there are universal rights in my view which is based on biblical scripture. I have read where Christ said "...render unto Caesar what is Caesar's." I have not read where Christ said that a murderer should not be punished or where Christ chastised Rome for putting people to death for their crimes. If there is some sort of biblical admonition against legal punishment for the most heinous offenses, I would like someone to direct me to it.
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