Thoughts on the death penalty?

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by TheGame

Yeah that question is the problem with it in the first place.. there needs to be some dramatic overwhelming evidence for the death penalty to be valid. Lets take the opposite situation..

Think of someone you love who is under the age of 18 (boy or girl), and lets say that there is video evidence of a man on trial brutaly raping the kid then killing them, and then selling the videos over the internet and making money off of it. And in the courtroom they are 100% unremorseful for it, and claims they enjoyed it and would do it again if they had the chance. Would you feel like that guy deserves a chance at life?

What would you consider a fitting penalty for that?

Maximum security prison for life with no chance of parole. The question isn't about punishment, but about the value of human life and who gets to make those decisions. I don't think we get t make those decisions unless we are trying to save our life or others. If prison can fit that need just as well, we should use it. Besides, prison is NOT pleasant and I would consider a life term a fate worse than death, honestly.

Also, the main reasoning behind the death penalty isn't that it is appropriate punishment, but that it is a deterrent. Maybe it used to be a deterrent, but it's so behind closed doors now that it's almost mythic in character. If it were made public, perhaps it would deter, but then we'd have something more abhorrent than I'd like to comprehend.

You don't have to kill someone to take their life. A lifetime of hard labor can be punsihment enough. Keep in mind, I'm also for alternative punishments as well. Say, if a child molester elects to castrate himself for parole, I'm all for it. The goal should be to correct and/or prevent behavior, not to apply vengeance.