You seem to be either for it, or against it; capital punishment, the great equalizer of individual cases against crimes of passion, has roused some of the most polarizing opinions on any subject. All of it is for good reason, too, because it's no laughing matter.
Instead of blithering on & on about the boring history of the death penalty (one could write entire tomes for each nation's history with the act), I'll talk about my position on it. That should interest you more, right?
I won't beat around the bush with you - I don't support it at all. However, I don't hold this position because I think that life is sacred or anything soft like that. Actually, my main reason for being against capital punishment is because I don't support the government having the ability to take your life away, for "justice" or anything else. Every single thing in life is secondary; life is primary. If life can be taken away by law, then if you support this practice, you shouldn't be allowed to complain when the government takes everything else from the citizenry. Justice be damned.
Well, the government already rightly can take everything away from you if they were to be so inclined. Nevermind, then!
A lesser reason that I'm against capital punishment is because I feel, when at all appropriate, it is merciful. Provided a sentenced convict isn't innocent of the charges (we all know that there have been plenty of people wrongfully executed), and could be deemed deserving of such treatment, I think you're giving said person the easy way out. Think about it for a moment: A person intends to take at least one person's life, which obviously requires meticulous planning; they also expected to get caught, and they probably even wanted attention for some reason or another. This is a thinking, rational, ambitious human being who felt that it was necessary to snuff the life out of another person for their own ends.
Thus presenteth the problem (in my opinion) with sentencing such souls to death; they know full well what they did, and they possess the ability to introspect, to eventually (or perhaps never, but you can't predict such exceptions) feel something along the lines of guilt, even. Such people, in my mind, should live with the consequences of their actions, and have to deal with the repercussions until they can perhaps seek redemption. You deprive all of that when you kill them. Some of these people don't even fear death, but rather the routine of having to live with themselves for a full life sentence.
And if they don't feel guilt and are truly monsters, then I say we should lock them up in tight, damp, dark cells for good. Or, like what happened to Napoleon Bonaparte & others throughout history, we could exile such violent, often psychopathic violators of humanity to lonely, excluded places where the rest of the world wouldn't be bothered by their presence. You're on your own, fucker! Or we could be nice and kill them, so they will never have to deal with such inhumane treatment! Why live with your monstrous self when you could just be given the final exit instead!?
Perhaps someone like me, with my mindset, is the truly merciless one? Or maybe I just feel that justice is not primitive reaction, but rational weighing of the crime & the sentence in response. Maybe I feel that when pencil-necked, often chicken-hawk spoiled rich kids in palatial mansions can legally kill you, it is a colossal joke, and more people should consider as they support the death penalty. Perhaps my position is that criminals should actually have to deal with the consequences of their actions, and not be given a quick way out. In the end though, we need to stop being reactionary idiots and start setting examples of these violent assholes. After all, why do you think many mass-murderers end up killing themselves? It's because they don't want to deal with the repercussions of their actions!
Make them deal with it, I say! And I must stress this: spoiled rich assholes who know nothing about the real struggles of life, also known as politicians, should not have the power to kill you through paid mercenaries, also known as cops, prison guards, and executioners. Until they start walking the walk rather than talking the talk, they should not have such powers so easily granted by democratic vote. To Hell with the death penalty!
Bacon-cheeseburger.
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