[SOC] Death penalty

[soc@mailman.qth.net]

I waited a number of hours before replying to this.

While respect the fact that you mean well, I have to take
serious exception to your comments.

I have worked in Canadian Gaols for the last 26 years, and
one of the obscenities of our "legal" system (and I mean that
in distinction from a "Justice" system) is the absence of
capitol punishment. Anyone who believes that a person is not
capable of doing something, for which the just, compassionate,
even loving response, is an execution suffers from a distorted,
low view of man. The absence of capitol punishment is inhuman
because it dehumanizes the murderer, by denying his significance
and the significance of his victims.

While your raising the issue of possible error reminds us that
care should be taken before an execution is imposed, that is what
the appeal process is for. 

And, before you quote that oft used, cliche "better one hundred
guilty men go free..." The result of that misused, and distorted
principle has been that we knowingly victimize thousands, in order
keep from unintentionally victimizing one. There is an old notion,
sadly forgotten, of justice that says that those who acquit the guilty
are just as dispicable as those who knowingly convict the innocent.

As one who has to live with those you don't want to execute, I would
ask, are you willing to live with them for the rest of their lives?
If not why not... I hope you are not like many who argue as you do
whose core motivation is cowardice because they don't really want to
be responsible for seeing justice done, but want to have some dumb
schmuck like me do their dirty work for them, and makes me live with
the consequences of their ivory tower moralizing. Yes, I chose my profession
and I take pride in doing what I can to make society somewhat safer,
to the extent that I can, but I really resent those who squeamishness
causes them to support public policy that makes my work/life more
dangerous. As a result of thinking such as yours, Canada is now one
of the best places in the world to flee, if you are guilty of a 
capitol offense, and having to deal with some of the principals in
recent cases, such as USA vs Rafae, I DESPISE, the consequences of
such thinking. And that is a polite way for me to express my feelings
on the subject.

As to the development of "modern" society, you would do well to read
Jacques Barzun's "From Dawn to Decadence" a study of the development
of western thought over that last 500 years. 

Also, before you quote some of the popular studies in support of your
position, please make sure you have done your homework first, all the
ones I know of that support your position have been shown to be the
result of really shoddy, if not deliberate misleading scholarship.
They are wonderful examples of how to lie with statistics.
 

cheers, Paul - VA7NT ex VE7CQK - email: paule@sfu.ca
"Those who hear not the music. . . think the dancers mad."