Capital Punishment.....For or Against

[steve_spackman]

what purpose does Capital punishment serve?

quote

"An execution is not simply death. It is just as different from the privation of life as a concentration camp is from prison. It adds to death a rule, a public premeditation known to the future victim, an organization which is itself a source of moral sufferings more terrible than death. Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated can be compared. For there to be an equivalency, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death on him and who, from that moment onward, had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not encountered in private life."
Albert Camus---"Reflections on the Guillotine, Resistance, Rebellion & Death" (1966).

[driveace]

Sticky wicket here! The public vote FOR and the polititions vote NO !

[BDunnell]

Very definitely against, no matter what the circumstances.

[schmenke]

Very definately for, under very specific circumstances.

[Tazio]

what purpose does Capital punishment serve?

quote

"An execution is not simply death. It is just as different from the privation of life as a concentration camp is from prison. It adds to death a rule, a public premeditation known to the future victim, an organization which is itself a source of moral sufferings more terrible than death. Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated can be compared. For there to be an equivalency, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death on him and who, from that moment onward, had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not encountered in private life."
Albert Camus---"Reflections on the Guillotine, Resistance, Rebellion & Death" (1966).

Your quoting an "Existentialist" A philosophy that is opposed to “Rationalism” and “Empiricism,”

BTW I'm against it!

[ioan]

That's a difficult one.
I can imagine a few circumstances where I would be for it, but for 99% I'm against it, but only if the other option is jail + crushing stones for the of his/her life.

[steve_spackman]

I think that the death penalty is flawed due to the fact that the death penalty delivers a 'double punishment'; that of the execution and the preceding wait, and this is a mismatch to the crime.

Also it's argued that retribution is used in a unique way in the case of the death penalty. Crimes other than murder do not receive a punishment that mimics the crime - for example rapists are not punished by sexual assault, and people guilty of assault are not ceremonially beaten up.

[rah]

Very definitely against, no matter what the circumstances.

Same for me.

[Valve Bounce]

Very definitely against, no matter what the circumstances.

In view of the cases where innocents, found guilty after dodgy investigations, have been executed, I am definitely against the death penalty.

In any case, if they are guilty, I reckon they suffer more from a life sentence in jail.

The only exception is in China, where the STATE finds it economical to execute, because they then charge the family for the bullet. In these times of economical hardship, the Communist regime there makes a compelling argument for Capital Punishment. Whether the guy is eventually proven innocent is never the case, because nobody dares to argue the case.

[Easy Drifter]

For in cases of premeditated murder where there is no question of possible innocence.
Also for in the case of anyone on these forums who has the terminity to disagree with me!