[Vision2020] Re: Only the short sighted think Death Penalty MustBe Aboli...

[Matt Decker]

Ted,

Some great points, however, you lost me on the death penalty being a tool 
for dictarship. Isn't the sole purpose to kill the bad guys? I doubt that 
most Americans feel their rights being infringed by the death penalty. Well 
at least the ones not doing the horrific crimes.

MD


>From: "Ted Moffett" <starbliss at gmail.com>
>To: "ToeKneeTime at aol.com" <ToeKneeTime at aol.com>
>CC: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Re: Only the short sighted think Death Penalty 
>MustBe Aboli...
>Date: Thu, 4 May 2006 00:30:07 -0700
>
>Tony et. al.
>
>Anyone who has committed a crime deserving of the death penalty can be 
>given
>life in prison without parole instead.  So then there is no recidivism,
>unless it occurs in prison, the prisoner escapes, or somehow the laws 
>change
>to allow the prisoner out.  And please don't carp about the costs of life
>imprisonment... if dollars and cents quantified justice we'd let MBAs from
>Harvard determine who gets a quality trial and who does not, based on how
>much media time could be sold for the trial coverage.  And death penalty
>cases are very costly with the appeals process, etc.
>
>With life imprisonment without parole, if a mistake was made there is time
>to correct the injustice.  With the death penalty enforced if someone is
>later found innocent...
>
>Justice is not cheap.  If you want cheap justice, move to China.   You 
>might
>find that your Christian beliefs (aggressive public opposition to forced
>abortions) and lifestyle draw the attention of the Chinese Communist Party,
>who can have you executed in short order (trumped up charges?), with 
>minimal
>rights to a fair trial or access to an appeal, etc.
>
>The death penalty is a prime symptom of a dictatorship...Or is it one of 
>the
>prime tools of a dictatorship?  Both?
>
>The death penalty in any nation is a tool that can be used to impose
>tyranny, even if it exists within a system that at this moment appears to
>respect justice, fairness and the rights of the individual.  This potential
>for abuse alone justifies banning the death penalty.  I don't trust the
>state to determine who gets to live or die based on a flawed legal system,
>nor do I trust that in the future the state may not have the machinery of
>the death penalty high jacked for the sake of
>military/economic/political/ideological "special interests."
>
>Support for the death penalty is symptomatic of those
>who, despite any appearances as critics of government regulation, are
>authoritarians at heart, who think the government should have the ultimate
>say in the life and death of human beings.  Talk about an egregious
>overextension of government power...!!!!  I can't imagine any power more
>egregious.  Well, OK, Winston (1984) was crushed as a human being by the
>state to make a statement that the state has the power to destroy (as in
>destroy the spirit, beliefs and love a human being followed) a human being
>who opposes said state, while they are alive, the point being this is worse
>than having the state simply execute its opponents, because it is a
>destruction of the very freedom seeking individualistic humanity in the 
>soul
>of a human being that constitutes the essence of the opposition of the
>individual to the power of the state...
>
>You might want to consider the decision by former Illinois Republican
>Governor Ryan regarding the death penalty in Illinois, and also the work of
>the Innocence Project:
>
>http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/jan-june01/penalty_5-10.html
>
>http://www.innocenceproject.org/
>
>Ted Moffett
>
>On 5/3/06, ToeKneeTime at aol.com <ToeKneeTime at aol.com> wrote:
>>
>>  ACS,
>>
>>No, no, you misunderstand.  I did not say that executing the innocent was
>>justified as a deterrent.  I was simply pointing out that any system
>>administered by fallible humans is going to result in some percentage of
>>errors.  I don't believe that we should respond to this unavoidable
>>consequence by dumping the entire program.  Your inclination to do exactly
>>that is understandable but potentially VERY costly.  I believe that the 
>>end
>>result would be a far GREATER loss of life do to recidivism.
>>
>>Hope this sheds more light on my position.
>>
>>Best,  --Tony
>>
>>_____________________________________________________
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>>
>>
>>


>_____________________________________________________
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