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I used to be more against the death penalty, but as I've gotten older I've become more supportive of it in principle. How it gets implemented in practice is another question. I just don't think blanket opposition to death penalty is a workable moral principle.
The problem with blanket opposition to death penalty is that it suggests that any and all human life carries more moral weight than literally anything else. I don't think that's true. I think some crimes are so horrible that death penalty is warranted, and the demand for justice supercedes that person's right to life.
I don't believe it necessarily carries more moral weight, its more about what capabilities I am are happy with the state possessing. I don't want the state to have the power to kill me outside of a very special set of circumstances like war or immediate threat to others / law enforcement.
some crimes are horrible, and people need to be removed from society, for everyone's safety, that is not in question. but granting the power to kill that inmate 30 years later not seem to serve any Justice, to me. Everything was fine yesterday, and will be fine tomorrow. Why do we need to make those connected to the victim suffer again 30 years later by bringing it to attention.
I think you achieve the same outcome without the needing to grant the state that capability. Only 1/3 of the countries in the world have the death penalty, and 17 exercised it last year. I would prefer if none had that capability.
I believe No human death should be deliberate, especially if done the state.
😂
Without killing, evil people will kill you. Something Ukrainians are experiencing right now. Israelis as well.
We are very lucky that hundreds of Russians are getting deliberately killed every day. It's the reason why Kyiv is still in Ukrainian hands.
If we could get that figure to tens of thousands of Russians killed every day, Kyiv would become a lot safer soon.
I agree with you there. But that is war, not the death penalty.
I don't think killing is never justified. Just that it should not be done by the state in a peacetime, and especially not 30 years after the event.
stop clutching your pearls drama queen
I find that a horrible thought.
I believe No human death should be deliberate, especially if done the state.
This was also at a time with a higher birthrate, and society and life was more violent. We were not killing 1% of the people through execution for crimes. People were dying as victims of crime.
US Birthrate today is about 1.2%. Killing off of 1% of the population is not going to lead to a good outcome.
We don't kill that many people worldwide from execution -- Amnesty says 2707 across 17 countries in 2025. By advocating for killing more criminals you are proposing lower criminal charges to meet some kind of capital punishment threshold.
Use of lethal force by law enforcement is not considered the death penalty for the debate and out of scope. I'm talking about the state enacting Justice by deliberately executing an inmate by decree.
Assume society wants less criminals, and wants broad agreement and social policy to optimize for this.
Consider criminality as an attribute of a human that we want to optimize to 0.
Consider how criminality is derived in the human, there has to be some source -- nature, nurture, otherwise. Assuming that there is some 'criminality gene' to be found to in the class of nature; eg: MAOA "Warrior Gene" and CDH13 for hyperactivity/impulse control.
Something like Lead or Toxoplasma gondii exposure can have can behavioral effects that creates criminals, which would not be an inherited trait. The phasing out of lead fuel in the 20th century increased IQs, which should presumably decrease criminality.
Even if we consider that epigenetic inheritance, generational trauma, where environment switches off genes that impacts criminality in offspring as something to prevent, epigenetic changes are reversible. There may be treatment that reduces criminality in offspring and would not be inherited by future generations.
Executing people, or even executing 1% of the population for crimes is a highly inefficient way to reduce criminality in society with way too many false positives, which are abhorrent.