| Subject: Re: The Death Penalty – the most controversial of subjects |
Author:
kat
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Date Posted: 02:21:17 06/11/01 Mon
In reply to:
Wyldchilde
's message, "Re: The Death Penalty – the most controversial of subjects" on 22:12:09 06/09/01 Sat
It seems to me that a nation which sanctions murder as a solution to its problems, will produce citizens who, if alienated and disenfranchised enough, will see the use of deadly force as the solution to their problems as well.
In other words, the state is leading by example.
<>
I would argue that a society will never progress very far if it uses the death penalty. The 'well, they're not human, are they?' argument refuses to acknowledge that society created the person who committed the atrocity. There is a wider net of responsibility here - to each other - and without looking at it, without understanding it, there will always be such tragedies.
The curious, Star Trekky, question in all of this is - what turns someone whose life is sacred and protected by law, into a dehumanized problem which must be terminated?
Where is that line? Is it one life taken? Two?? A hundred??? When does a person become valueless, to be discarded? What then of the companies who pollute the environment around them, for example in the nuclear power industry, directly causing clusters of cancers and child mortality rates far above the national average? Are the workers in the plants not guilty of murder by their actions? Why are they not on death row themselves?
The fact is, the death penalty is an inexact temporary fix which will never adequately answer the problems of the underbelly of society, let alone produce any solutions. IMHO, it is a part of the negligent way that society treats its population and part of the problem, because it necessitates us to have a cut off point, where one human being becomes worthless.
kat
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