Yorick, happy to bring some mirth into the life of a wondering bard. "Wondering about what?," you say. Well, one wonders.
Melusine and Skunk, as I've said before at length, I disagree with skunk's earlier and "second" point that prison is worse than death. I base this mostly on the fact that I know I'd chose some life over no life, however bad the some life was.
Moreover, some say that if you put people in solitary confinement and make the sentence harsh it can be truly horrible. Fair enough. While I stilll think that I personally would chose it over death, I will admit it'd be a rough existence. However, this misses the point. Lifer criminals do not have it so rough, and I'd be willing to bet that if you investigated you'd find they get time to go outside everyday, talk to each other, watch TV, surf the internet, read books, make license plates, do laundry, etc., etc. I know I'd chose those options over the death option. I just disagree with you guys, full stop.
Now, as to Skunk's "first" point, that the lack of 100% certainty in convictions makes him not support the D.P. Well, I agree that in practice the percentage of wrongful convictions is too high, and this makes me not support the DP as it is currently implemented. I don't know that I would demand the 100% Skunk demans, but I'd certainly demand a much higher percentage than we now have. 95%? 99%? 99.999%? I don't know exactly where I'd draw the line, but right now the percentages are not good enough.
But, this really misrepresents Skunk's ultimate point. As you have stated before Skunk, even with 100% certainty, you would still be against the DP in theory because you think it is not an appropriate way to punish. You usually present a logical argument that revenge/sheer punishment is not a reason to punish. I respect that view, but I disagree. You also often point to the argument, mentioned already, that if it is wrong for a person to kill, it is wrong for the government to kill. As I've stated, I see this argument as logically flawed, because all forms of punishment violate this cunningly and deceptively simplified "rule."
Now, I'm sorry if I have attributed points-of-view to you that are misrepresentations of what you've said before, and if I have smack me around for doing so. I'm just trying to get to your ultimate arguments, because those are the ones I'd like to see you hash out....
being as we do agree that in practice the application of the DP is still not accurate enough.