Don't be too hard on the Italians; they have been using the Coliseum as an anti-death penalty symbol for years (as that ABC article states).
I can appreciate your ambivalence about the death penalty. It's tricky negotiating any of these these subjects fraught with emotions and emotional manipulation. But the argument you make for being in favor of executions, that it's what you would want should a family member be murdered, is one of these emotionally manipulative arguments we should be skeptical of.
Let's leave aside the question of whether the government should be in the business of carrying out personal vendettas (I, for instance, would want executed anyone who might hurt my dog, and that motherfucker who broke into mine and Chris' cars the night I broke my arms) or of killing folks (which, for a small government dude like yourself, are prospects that might give you more pause than they seem to) and focus on some of the non-moral variables you referred to (I agree that these are the most compelling anti-death penalty rationales). Here are the circumstances under which you would see your loved one's killer executed.
- First, the victim would have to be white. The murders of non-whites don't get avenged with capital punishment the same way those of whites do.
- Also, the accused killer would have to be non-white. Whites that kill whites don't get executed quite as often (even though whites kill more whites than non-whites do).
- The accused killer would also have to be unable to afford their own attorney. So, if the killer is poor, there's a much better chance of their being charged with a capital crime. In Texas, though, there is no public defender system; if you're charged with a crime and need a court-appointed attorney you're as likely to get a lawyer with, say, tax experience as with criminal defense (there's also no guarantee of competency). In such instances if you're charged with a capital crime, you're almost certainly going to be executed (and you don't even have to really be guilty*).
Talk to you later,
Bryan
*This article is long, but it's good.
3 comments:
There is clear evidence available to support that numerous mistakes have been made by the justice system that have resulted in the deaths of innocent people. Also, the death penalty poses very little threat as a deterrent. Those are reasons enough for me to be against it. Certainly if someone killed my mom my position would likely change but i do believe that we should have a justice system that does not make laws and create policies that are founded on revenge.
Good points from both of you.
I won't deny that this issue IS an emotional issue for me. I try to divorce emotion as much as possible when it comes to political/social stances, but this is one that I can't.
And to what Chris was saying, I agree that it isn't a great deterrent, and that my emotions and desires WOULD be very vengeful. I would very much be in the position of "you took my wife's life, well, then I want the state to take yours." Again, I'm not proud of that. I feel weird feeling righteous about human life like that, but it's just how I feel.
I especially feel weird about it, b/c one could I argue that I got my revenge when the killer was arrested and given a life sentence. In effect, his life IS taken from him....well sorta, b/c then I could argue that his "institutionalized" life is one of minimal freedom, while my loved one is dead.
See...I'm just all mixed up over this issue. Probably always will be. But thanks for both of your thoughts.
oh...and one question, Bryan.
In those statistics about whites getting capital punishment less than non-whites...are there numbers on how many accused whites vs. accused non-whites had private attorneys?
As you said in your post, I imagine a veteran attorney, especially a high priced one who specializes in criminal law would be able to negotiate and maneuver to get their client a lesser sentence than would a tax attorney.
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