this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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I am pro death penalty, and its not even a thing where I live. I've heard all the arguments against and I simply don't agree. I also don't consider it an ethical problem in regards to state sanctioned murder.
I am however in favour of painless executions and every effort should of course be made to ensure the event is as stress free as possible. I'm not a complete animal
In a perfect world, I'd agree - if law officials were to perfectly convict guilty people each time, and if execution methods were absolutely flawless with painless/instant death. However, that's not what happens in the real world.
There's an amazing video by Jacob Geller on execution methods, where he talks about the history and the present of death sentences, but in short, not an insignificant amount of people get falsely convicted and then executed, and the execution methods US are using focus more on "appearing humane" rather than effective/painless, and the incompetence of the executors turning some of those executions into hours of agonizing pain.
I agree. I guess the point is I support it in principle, not in the way it's currently done anywhere
Death penalty does not deter crime though, each and every piece of research confirms that
I don't support it as a deterrent. some people lose their right to live in my opinion
edit: as the topic of the post was unpopular opinions ill take the downvotes as a win, thanks everyone!
Congratulations on the unpopular opinion!
Death penalty is final, there are no take backs. One mistake means a life is lost with no possible way to resolve it
Even life in prison, after decades, if fixed means you can give a person back some semblance of relief, especially if the prison system stops being punitive, but rehab based.
What is your stance on the risks of killing innocent people through failure of the justice system?
that's a tough one I can't lie. if the death penalty is on the table, there really needs to be a better justice system with a much harder burden of proof involved
Just from a numerical standpoint...I'd think the difference between these two numbers would be the determining factor for death penalty vs no death penalty.
How many innocent people have been killed on death row.
How many innocent people have been killed by those who Could have been sentenced to death, but were not because the death penalty was not allowed.
Obviously you can't know the exactly number, but if you could get an estimate, and one was larger than the other... then you could answer purely from a "saving X number of innocent lives" perspective.
For sure, I agree it should be used only in cases where we're absolutely sure that they did it. For example, mass shooters that are taken into custody mid-shooting and there is an absolutely undeniable chain of custody to ensure that the wrong person isn't getting killed.
That doesn't seem possible, at least in my country. The fact that we have executed people that turned out to be incocent later makes my stomach turn.
I don't have a problem with the state killing people in principle. I just have a problem with the state killing the incorrect people (actual, guilty people that don't deserve to live).
The whole point of being in jail, is to learn of your mistakes and not do it again. If you die, you don't learn anything. The others do but that way of someone learning is quite cruel and not fitting in a democracy because fear is undemocratic.
is Dalmer learning any lessons? Ivan milat? some people are just fucked up
Maybe we are not doing justice correctly... But do we even know if they do if we kill them?