What kind of friend would I be to msharmony if I didn't speak out when someone made a personal attack against her?

The topic of this thread isn't religion, isn't race and isn't extremist groups, whoever they may be. It is about the way that the death penalty is given.

well, when you become a mod, then your opinion on whats a personal attack will matter...

actually I am more concerned what it does to those who are actually charged to carry out the Sentence!

a reasonable concern as well,,, to be innocent and put to death could only be matched by the emotional trauma of having been the one who killed an innocent person,,,,

really doesn't matter much whether the one executed might have been innocent,the very act of having to kill another Human being,no matter how guilty it might be,in cold blood,got to be one heck of a psychological strain on the one carrying out the sentence.

could be, some are able to detach, just like soldiers in war,,,,the action from the goal,,,,

Or they could be psychopaths and just not care...

Or they could believe that capital punishment is just punishment for cold-blooded murder.

I believe they are required to go through an extensive training pre and post executions. The lethal injection is performed by three who administer the three drugs. Immiediatly after, they attend a process that is meant or designed at detaching from the possible emotional trauma. Fireing squads, (at least milatary) used to have a firing squad use blanks, while two members of the squad did the actual harm, none on the firing squad knew who would shoot the leathal shots.

one thing i respect the islamists for is the "eye for an eye" type policy, it does seem to prevent some crimes... i don't think cutting anyone's body part other than the head is a very good idea, and the idea of cutting off someones hand for stealing is a great anti-theft deterrent...

thats the catch,, always a trade off,,, they have less 'crime' but also less freedom

we have more 'freedom' but also more crime,,,

The problem I have with the death penalty is the same as the problem I have with people in general being the stupid, vengeful and murderous animals that they are; it is the worst of all possible "solutions" to the problem of crime in that it makes the same sick mistake and comes from the same sick mindset of the criminal himself...and it makes the horribly unjust mistake of killing innocent people that could be any of us. ("There but for the Grace of G-d, go I..." - John Bradford(?) )

Why don't we ask Timothy Evans what he thinks of the death penalty?...Oh yeah...Silly me...He died after his beloved family was murdered!

How many of you self-righteous, vengeful, tailless(?) monkeys favouring the death penalty would like to walk the last mile in his shoes?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Evans

Oh well...at least he was eventually pardoned...Wasn't that nice of us?

(And people actually wonder why I prefer being a bird to being human!!...Sheesh!)

I do believe its bad enough when people lose their freedom for decades for things witnesses thought they saw them doing, or places they thought they saw them at,,,,

but at least, it can be remedied

the idea that an innocent person may be killed with state approval,,,is a terrifying prospect to me too....

or the idea that incarceration isnt enough protection and 'vengeance' for us,,,,

The standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt" is insufficient for a death penalty. If there is to be a death penalty at all (and I strongly disapprove of it), the standard should be "beyond ALL doubt whatsoever." (i.e. that ANY possibly true alibi or excuse MUST disallow execution.). To accept any standard lower than this would allow the innocent to die and make the people comprising the society imposing that penalty themselves complicit in the slaughter of innocents (i.e. accessories to state murder).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWamd3jh3TY