[Gammit]

This argument has been played out time and time again in a variety of forums, and I don't think anybody is any closer to swaying one side over today than ever before. Thus, this all must come to the presenting of the mother of total subjective thought: opinion. Ahem... I consider myself a liberal (in most aspects), yet I have little moral problems with the death penalty whatsoever. What is atrocious is that yes, there are some (many?) innocent people who will wrongly be put to death because of our system... true. However, what else to do? Keep these individuals in jail for life, all while giving them free access to cable television, a weight room, hot meals, and I have to pay for it (although not all prisoners get this posh lifestyle, many do)? Granted it does cost taxpayers more to put a prisoner to death than it does to keep him/her in jail for life, but it's the principle. Plain and simply, this man was convicted (there's the key word... they've been convicted in a court of law, had the right to an attorney, had the right to appeal, etc.). I would rather pay $100 to end a convicted murderer's life than $10 to let them live a life of comparable luxury. I am confident that with our judicial system's establishment of checks and balances, and the development of further forensic science, that our system is as good as it gets. If anybody has a better idea, I welcome it. But thus far, I feel I've heard quite a bit, and I still believe we have one of the best systems out there. If you disagree, feel free to voice your opinion, or better yet, do something about it to change the system. I'm just thankful that I live in a country (one of many)where I can act to change a system, if I so choose. We all could have been born somewher else (Yay, our countries... let's all be thankful). Then again, like I said before, philisophical debate such as this is all boils down to opinion. So, please, let's all remember that just because some of us may disagree with others, it doesn't make anybody less educated, enlightened, or just.

[ 05-29-2002, 02:09 PM: Message edited by: Gammit ]