Personally, I am convinced that every human has a threshold past which the
death penalty becomes acceptable for him or her. The issue for me then is
how to closely examine each individual case, not whether the idea of a
death penalty itself is valid.
I suggest that anyone predisposed to throwing the concept out entirely
spend some time in a prison environment where the outcasts of society
reside. This is a good example of a system feedback loop where
congregating the trouble makers often acts to enhance the behavior for
which they were incarcerated to begin with. Unless and until this loop is
broken, it makes little sense to allow the worst offenders to spend a
lifetime educating others to be like them. Can we create a more humane
and less punitive system? Sure, but we haven't yet.
--Lon Badgett lonbadgett@aol.com
"Is the death penalty humane? Well, I don't know, but it does avoid the problem of recidivism almost entirely." Emil Gobersneke
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