Two wrongs don't make a right

Beyond the simple fact that justice systems are not perfect and some convicted people are actually innocent, it seems to me that the primary reason for banning the death penalty throughout the world is that killing is wrong. If it is wrong for a murderer to commit murder, then it is wrong for the state to take a life as a form of punishment.

Incarceration for life without the possibility of parole removes the offender from society and meets out the punishment deemed necessary by society and the rule of law. Killing someone for “revenge” would seem to be an attempt to make two wrongs into a right.

by John R Moffett (82 articles, 17 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 646 comments) on Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 1:35:22 PM
 

Death in China and Vietnam

China and Vietnam each sentenced people to be executed today but that only shows that we live in a civilized society. You see we have a civil court system that will sting real hard if you go out of line. That's is, we do right now, it's anyone guess where our Justice Department is heading today. They have some goal in mind and I know real well that Bush and Godzilla are to damn stupid to think that hard and deep so they’ll be just as surprised as the rest of the country.
Maybe, just maybe this was one of the reasons that that Justice’s wife was crying during the confirmation hearings. Do you suppose she knew something about the plan.

by drasile (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 77 comments) on Thursday, May 31, 2007 at 2:30:43 PM
 

No, we do not hang thieves

Iraq war is an enormous thievery machine: billions of dollars are stolen, treasury looted in the US- horrible,  uncontrollable thievery and bribery.

But we are civilized: we do not hang thieves. We instead laud them and give them more perks- corporate stools, stock options, lavish  hunting trips.

Cultural  problem, huh? Who would have known?

by Mark Sashine (53 articles, 19 quicklinks, 250 diaries, 3574 comments) on Friday, June 1, 2007 at 8:01:32 AM