Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
For the Pro Death Penalty people on the Board.
Is it acceptable to execute and innocent person?
To me this question is far more important then any discussion on the morality of the state killing people. The reality is that innocent people get convicted of crimes and have been executed in the US. DNA is a great example of technology that was unavailable at the time people were convitcted that is now being used to free them. If they have been executed there is no letting them out.
How do those who support the death penalty justify the rare occasions that an inocent person is killed?
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The likelihood of you or I or even the black guy down the street being convicted of 1st degree murder and later be found innocent is far smaller than one of us being killed by a murderer. The use of DNA and the increase of media devises within our environment makes the odds for a false charge and conviction even smaller. You are gambling a lot more driving to work every day than you are by living in a State that has capital punishment.
Now driving to work has a great benefit to risk ratio. You expect to get paid but, really aren't worried a bus will hit you on the way. The question with capital punishment is what is the benefit. I mean the risk of a false charge and conviction is very small but, regardless of how small if there is no benefit it is a risk not worth taking. In my mind capital punishment is a benefit in that it is fair. You willfully take a life your life is taken. This basic idea of justice we all learn in childhood. Someone eats your candy; you want their candy is taken away. Fairness isn't revenge. Revenge is looking for extended punishment or torture. The execution of Mohammad didn't make up for the lives that he took. Mohammad couldn't make up for the innocent lives he took but, his death did close the account. The State required Mohammad pay the ultimate price for his murders. To paraphrase Clint Eastwood from "the Unforgiven": "Killing a man takes away everything he's got and everything he will ever have". Mohammad's account is closed.