Capital Punishment (mystic)

[kdrier]

I'm all about doing things for the greater good. The greatest happiness for the greatest number. I think people have their standards of life too high, and it's burdening the rest of society. I think a form of capital punishment might help some of the problems our country has all around.

The jails are full. The law system needs tons of finances to be supported at this level. These finances come from our tax dollars. If someone is a murderer or a rapist, kill them. If someone molests kids, kill them. These people are mentally unstable and have no place in our society, nor in a place where they leech off our tax dollars. If someone accidently kills someone in a car accident or something, throw them in jail for a while, let them see how their families feel, let them feel guilty for killing someone, if they are mentally stable, they will probably never do it again. If someone gets busted for harmlessly smoking marijuana, or taking unprescribed government pills, give them a fine, or maybe a warning at first. the greedy government is way to involved in things that don't matter much just so they make a quick buck.

Decriminalize things that don't harm others or have not harmed others, buckle down on things that do.

[MysticSang'ha]

Ever read Karen Pryor's Don't Shoot the Dog?

I am against capital punishment because I believe it is state-sanctioned pre-meditated murder of another human being.

Although I agree with you that jails are too full........but they're overfilled with non-violent criminals from our "war on drugs."




Peace,
Mystic

[kdrier]

I am against capital punishment because I believe it is state-sanctioned pre-meditated murder of another human being.

I'm a very non violent person, I've never been in a fight or anything. But I am definitely capable of killing someone when they deserve it. When I say deserve it, I mean they did something so terrible, they hurt those around them so bad, that there is a good chance they would or least want to do it again. People capable of things like murder and rape are a waste of life when they abosolutely destroy those around them. If someone raped my girlfriend, I would do the dirtiest and most inhumane things to that man.

[Fluffy]

I agree with your consequentialist system of ethics but feel you have not considered all of the consequences.
The consequences that you mention are:
1) The harm done to the criminal by killing them
2) The potential for a criminal to do harm if kept alive and imprisoned with potential for release

What about:
3) The affect on societies view of killing (possible brutalizing affect)
4) The potential for the legal system to judge a case inaccurately (possible killing of innocents + discrimination against racial/religious minorities)
5) The affect on crime rates (possible lack of correlation between reduction in crime and capital punishment)
6) The affect on the economy and taxation (possible increase in legal costs due to capital cases costing more money)

[Fluffy]

I feel that a society in which everyone felt that rape was okay is the worst sort of society. A step up from that is the society in which rape is condemned and people feel that rapists should be executed. The ideal is a society in which rape is condemned and rapists are rehabilitated.

[MysticSang'ha]

Many violent criminals attempt to justify their actions, too. Battered wives kill their husbands out of fear. Acquaintance rape is by far the most common kind of rape (women know and trust the men who rape them, and a lot of the rapists don't interpret their actions as rape).




Peace,
Mystic

[kdrier]

I made the comment that society has their standards of life too high. People adapt, especially if they learned to understand it was for the greater good. I bet we would see a lot less murders and rapes also if people knew they were going to be executed as opposed to being thrown into the cosher jail system we have.

[kdrier]

Many violent criminals attempt to justify their actions, too. Battered wives kill their husbands out of fear. Acquaintance rape is by far the most common kind of rape (women know and trust the men who rape them, and a lot of the rapists don't interpret their actions as rape).

Yes, I agree. I mean I have not thought it out entirely. I don't mean instantly kill someone if we think they raped someone. law and order would still be effective. I mean if there is not a glimpse of doubt, for example if the person had a history of commiting violent crimes. I don't think spouse murder is much more acceptable than killing a stranger. Either you are capable of innocent murder or not, self defense is one thing, killing someone out of anger is another. If someone is raped violently (bleeding, bruised) then there is no arguing it was forced rape. Some women give guys weird signals so we might be a big agressive, but there is a different between being aggressive, than hurt someone to get what you want.

In other words, if you know that if you kill or rape someone you are going to be executed... you get what's coming to you. Whether it was out of anger or out of pleasure.