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Originally Posted by case
I understand the philosophy of it, LS, but do you really feel comfortable with our govt/legal system making the choice as to whether a person's life should be taken? What about folks who were innocent, or acted in self defense? That isn't probably considered "cold blooded" to you, but why should we leave that decision in the hands of an already misguided, if not incompetant group of people? Who is fit to make that judgement? You? Me? The victims of a crime? An educated removed individual sitting behind a wooden podium? A group of conditioned people sitting in wooden benches having had all kinds of spin flung at them by lawyers looking to win a case? I don't feel comfortable giving anyone that kind of power.
Sure, there are a lot of sick people out there, looking to hurt you or your family. And if one of them does, how does revenge on that person really fix the problem? It just gets rid of the person who did it, but it doesn't rid you of the experience. It will happen with other sick people and their innocent victims. So are we just going to shoot everyone who gets acused of a crime worthy of it? And which crimes *are* worthy of killing someone?
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Our system isn't perfect. I'm not saying it is. However, what would you have us do? Who would you have making the decisions? Nobody? Someone has to have the power to enforce our laws, or there will be anarchy. Judges know the law, and 97% of the time the rulings they make are in favor of the defendant. The courts are so paranoid about getting their decisions reversed that they make every effort to make sure that the defendant gets as fair a trial as possible. Then there's DNA. I think that DNA evidence should be mandatory in rape and murder evidence. Not if the defendant can afford it. It should be MANDATORY. Then we don't have to worry about DNA exculpating somone after they've spent ten years in prison for something they didn't do. And if they admit it--sorry. If you're stupid enough to admit to something you didn't do, maybe Mother Nature's trying to tell you something.
And if we get rid of those sick people, then they won't have the opportunity to hurt anyone ELSE.
As I've said many times, it's not like we keep the death penalty a secret. Unless you've been living under a rock your entire life, you KNOW that certain crimes warrant the ultimate penalty. Therefore, should you choose to commit that crime, society may choose to hand down that penalty. I'm not MAKING someone commit a crime just so I can kill them.
I'm not cold-hearted. I just think that society deserves more consideration and protection than the predator. You don't baby a rabid dog, you destroy it so that it won't harm anyone.
Sidhe