War Wire
What are your views on torture, drug legalization, war, and anything else?
What do you believe? I'm really interested to see what people think about any significant topic. Whether its right or wrong to torture, the death penalty, church and state, racism, gay marriage, abortion, free speech, data piracy, war, the right to bear arms, socialized medicine, suspension of habeas corpus, federal wire tapping, and anything at all; I want your opinions and your views, no matter how controversial. Support your beliefs with reasoned arguments if you choose to, but if you feel you don't need to support your beliefs, then that's fine as well. Just please tell me what you think.
Wow, you've got quite a list. I could (and have) written at length on most of these, but in the interest of time & space I'll single out the death penalty. You should do separate questions for each of these - I'm sure you'll get much better, in-depth answers.
I was pro-death penalty for a long time, but I have changed my stance over the years, for several reasons:
1. By far the most compelling is this: Sometimes the legal system gets it wrong. Look at all the criminals who are being released after years of imprisonment because they were exonerated by DNA evidence. Unfortunately, DNA evidence is not available in most cases. No matter how rare it is, the government should not risk executing one single innocent person.
Really, that should be reason enough for most people. If you need more, read on:
2. Because of the extra expense of prosecuting a DP case and the appeals process (which is necessary - see reason #1), it costs taxpayers MUCH more to execute prisoners than to imprison them for life.
3. The deterrent effect is questionable at best. Violent crime rates are actually higher in death penalty states. This may seem counterintuitive, and there are many theories about why this is (Ted Bundy saw it as a challenge, so he chose Florida – the most active execution state at the time – to carry out his final murder spree). Personally, I think it has to do with the hypocrisy of taking a stand against murder…by killing people. The government becomes the bad parent who says, ‘do as I say, not as I do.’
4. There’s also an argument to be made that death is too good for the worst of our criminals. Let them wake up and go to bed every day of their lives in a prison cell, and think about the freedom they DON’T have, until they rot of old age. When Ted Bundy was finally arrested in 1978, he told the police officer, “I wish you had killed me.”
5. The U.S. government is supposed to be secular, but for those who invoke Christian law in this debate, you can find arguments both for AND against the death penalty in the Bible. For example, Matthew 5:38-39 insists that violence shall not beget violence. James 4:12 says that God is the only one who can take a life in the name of justice. Leviticus 19:18 warns against vengeance (which, really, is what the death penalty amounts to). In John 8:7, Jesus himself says, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
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