There is nothing to reconcile. I support the instant killing of guilty people. Pretty simple. Until our obviously screwed up system gets fixed, I will only accept confession or DNA as proof. Most death penalty cases would end up life without parole for me because quite frankly our system gets it wrong far too often for my tastes. Look at the number of innocent people in Illinois alone.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

Ah, got it. Okay.

Now once we get past the fact that DNA results can be wrong (and they are probabilities, so they function better as proof of innocence than proof of guilt, and let's not even talk about what went on at the FBI crime lab) and that confessions are often as much a function of plea-bargaining as actual guilt, we might get somewhere.

I think actual, clear-cut death penalty cases are few and far between. You practically have to be caught on videotape pulling the trigger.

Nearly all the murder cases I read about here in Atlanta seem pretty cut and dried. Not all. But most.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

kind of little oximoronish eh Catz

Anyone who is a follower of Christ needs to read John 7 and do some serious soul searching to whether or not they favor the death penalty. I struggle with the Death Penalty all the time. The world says one thing and Christ said another. He basically told the Pharisees that any one of them that doesn't or has never sinned can be the first one to stone Mary Mag....

Which obviously there is no person walking this planet that has never sinned.....except for Christ.

I think he was teaching us, all of us, about the issue of the Death Penalty.

I'm one of the few right leaning guys you'll ever see that is not a fan of the Death Penalty. I try not to let partisan guide my thinking.......I DO however rely on the Bible for life's tough stuff.

It seems like you're frustrated with the whole Christianity thing. Perhaps you were misguided. There are quite a few out there that do some pretty twisted crap all in the name of God and Jesus. But I can tell you that God has NOT given up on you......I wouldn't be writing this response if he had.

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II Cor 4:18

In fact, I attend church semi-regularly with my husband, and I don't hate it, though I don't believe it.

I even believe that Christianity's system of ethics have deeply influenced my own. How could they not? After all, those are the beliefs I was raised with.

But, my opinions on this topic are shaped by my own values and experiences, not a particular book deemed to be holy. Christianity plays a role in my thinking on race, on social justice, etc., but not in my thinking about the death penalty. Christian scripture is simply too contradictory on the subject for it to be of much worth on this topic.

Or many other topics.

Catz

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Ich bin ein lesbian.

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Bugalugs: "people join the military because they are stupid and gullible."

It's only oxymoronish if you believe that Yahweh=God. Otherwise...

Still rational.

Catz

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Ich bin ein lesbian.

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Bugalugs: "people join the military because they are stupid and gullible."

Deterrence is not the point of the exercise. Revenge is not the point of the exercise. The point of the exercise is to take out the societal garbage (if one wants to be cynical about it). Locking someone up for life with no chance of parole is a death sentence. No matter what way you try to look at it. It makes some feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside because they can now feign some sort of moral superiority or not acknowledge that by crushing someone's hopes, chances of freedom, deeming them unable to reform, and letting time do their dirty work that they are in fact supporting said criminal's death. But it's the same thing. You let someone rot in prison for the remainder of their life, or you get it over with and execute them.

I say again, the death penalty isn't something to play around with. But there are such serious crimes, such career criminals that society wishes to have nothing to do with them. They are deemed harmful to society, beyond reform. Why not get it over with? Execute them and open up a cell for someone whom isn't beyond reform, whom can become a working member of society. The death sentence is not a deterrent. People that are going to commit horrible, horrible crimes; those beyond reform are going to commit these crimes anyway. There is little reason for their continued consumption of oxygen if they are not going to contribute anything to society.

This, of course, is an extremely cynical view of the process, but I think that there can be truth in it. But I really hate those that say "I'm not for murder, just give them life imprisonment with no chance of parole" because that is a death sentence. They throw them in a little room, secluded from society for the remainder of their life, let them rot away with no chance of being free, letting time do the dirty work so they can have a clear conscious. Sometimes, you have to understand what the reality of a situation is. There are a lot of problems with our judicial system that need to be addressed. DBG actually (I knew it had to happen at some point) wrote a valid post. And I agree with her (*gasp*) in terms of the appeals process associated with a death sentence. At the same time, we must understand what a death sentence is. Note that it is a valid form of clean up for certain crimes. It should be used cautiously, with great discretion, but it should not be done away with.

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WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH