Estado Novo Portugues wrote:(for religious nations that believe in salvation)
True, they won't get their
mortal lives back. But if they're really innocent, they'll go to Heaven. And Heaven is much better than Earth, no?
Government policies should not be based on the assumption that any afterlife exists, much less the existence of a specific afterlife.
Demiurges wrote:Grenartia wrote:That's why we make damn sure we have the hard evidence before we try to convict, and why our most severe punishment is life in prison.
Oh yes, because it's completely fine for a mass murderer, or a serial rapist, or a traitor leaking government information to an enemy nation, or a pedophile who kidnaps multiple children to get a life sentence where they are living, not contributing back to society, and worst of all are doing all this on tax payer dollars. Yes, let's increase taxes making citizens pay for an inmates natural lifespan to spend their lives in a room where they will never have to work, pay for room and board, and are given a base minimum of two square meals a day, aswell as functioning bathing facilities, all just so some people can claim they took the moral and ethical high ground. When the human body is infected with disease, the natural function is for a healthy body to do is to fight off and kill the infection, not to give it cuddles and go "its okay mister infection, we know you didn't mean any harm to us intentionally.".
Actually, our justice system focuses on rehabilitation, not retribution, and even those who cannot be rehabilitated are allowed to continue to contribute to society, simply in ways that are less risky for society. For example, serial child molesters are segregated away from the rest of society. They live in separate colonies where children are not allowed, where they make a positive economic contribution to society while not being a risk to it. As for the "taxpayer's dime" argument, our society no longer judges the worth of a person based on how much or how little money it takes to support them. Besides, the money used to provide for an individual is much less than the money that would be required to execute them (after taking the necessary legal procedings into account).
To continue your infection analogy, your treatment for a person with an infection seems to be to chop off the infected limb, even if only a small part of it is actually infected, and without regard for the healthy tissue being removed. Our treatment, on the other hand, is to directly and precisely target the infected area, doing as little harm to the surrounding healthy tissue as possible. Your nation would do well to learn from our example.
Inquisitiors wrote:This proposal doesn’t allow for flexibility and accountability in situations where the individual poses an active threat to society.
There is no case where an individual who poses an active threat to society inherently needs to be executed to eliminate the threat.
Xanthal wrote:Grenartia wrote:How isn't it? While yes, somebody who has been falsely imprisoned won't get that time back, they have the rest of their lives back, and their freedom. Someone who has been falsely executed gets neither. Seems like the former is inherently infinitely preferable to the latter, ethically speaking.
If your moral code is simply "more life = better," sure. But what about quality of life? Xanthal does not believe that life's inherent value outweighs all other considerations. We believe that a person who is suffering deserves the right to end her life. We believe that a person deserves the right to end a life inside them to preserve her own prospects and freedoms. We believe that it is a waste to pour endless resources into keeping the heart of a brain dead patient beating. It is a logical extension of this line of thought that a life to be lived out in incarceration may be better not lived.
Our societies mostly agree. Where they seem to differ, however (other than the "pour endless resources part"), is in that we cannot see how the detriment to length and quality of life caused by execution can ever be less than the detriment to quality of life caused by imprisonment. Perhaps your prisons are different, but our prisons are not hellholes.
Arasi Luvasa wrote:"You assume that we do not sympathize with the victim because we do not wish to cause more bloodshed in their name? Have you asked the victim if they want to cause further bloodshed or is it just to satisfy your conscience?"
OOC: I've actually gone on record as telling my mother (my next of kin) that if I'm ever murdered, I do not want the suspect to be executed, and that she should oppose any attempt to do so. I don't want any blood to be spilt to "avenge" the spilling of my blood, even if the person whose blood is being spilt actually did kill me.
Hogwarts Pride wrote:Minister McCall rises from his seat and addresses his collegesWe must also remember that some people cannot be reformed and are too dangerous to be allowed to live. These people don't care about human life or how their victims suffered, they only understand one thing, and that's violence. We in Hogwarts Pride see what these murders and rapists truly are... scum to be hung from the gallows. They forfeited their right to live when they inflicted their heinous crimes on the innocent.
There's no such thing as a person who is too dangerous to be allowed to live. Rather, your problems are subpar prison security, and corrupt guards and administrators.
The Earth Systems Alliance wrote:"Why is this still being debated?",sighs Ambassador Irons.
"The Capital Punishment is a necessity and those nations who dare call others who practice it "barbarians" they are mere pretenders whose criminals are still running lose and are afraid to arrest them cause "muh feelings"."says the Ambassador, ironically.
Is the good ambassador attempting to use "Reals over feels" in this argument? That's quite laughable, considering the only real argument the pro-revenge-killing camp has are appeals to feelings.
Also, our criminals aren't "running lose", and we are far, far, far away from being "too afraid to arrest them". Perhaps, before making blanket statements, you could learn a thing or two about the countries you're speaking about, ambassador.
"Some lives need to be taken, because these people are irredeemable.
It is the firm belief of the Allied Worlds of Grenartia that all persons have the ability to be redeemed.
They are traitors, rapists, murderers. One may wonder, when does this end. I answer them when there is no more crime, when people can live without fear and not lose their parents to some thug with a gun. I have read stories on other nations that don't have the Capital Punishment, and it sickens me that those people are ruled by indecision and cowardice.
You shall find neither of those qualities in our government, ambassador.
The Capital Punishment serves as a means of example.
Then its done a piss-poor job of being an example if you have to use it more than once.
That if a citizen breaks the law by committing one of the aforementioned crimes, neither the state nor the honest tax payer will house them in a prison cell."
He cracks a little smile
"When Earth united under the Alliance, monarchs and corrupt officials tried to stop this. When they were revealed, the world uproared. The monarchs and the corrupt officials were presented before a court. Some said we should execute them, that their greed and lust cost the lives of millions. Instead, we put them to work. They built with their own hands roads, homes, bridges. And they begged for the Capital Punishment. They redeemed themselves, so we granted it to them. Now, the Alliance has come a long way from being a corrupt state. There were those of the royals who didn't work. They were killed, they served their purpose as messengers. They were criminals, traitors of the people and the Republic. And they were treated as such. They had become a threat, and they were dealt with. To those nations that support the Ban, I tell this: your will is weak, because it can't take a strong decision against criminals. But when a deviant, for example, rapes and kills your family, will you still be pro-ban?"
My people have a saying, in times like this: Cool story, bro.
As for your question, I still would be. Such individuals almost always have severe psychological defects that must be studied, so as to learn how to correct the defects in the future. An ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure. And you cannot pick the mind of a dead man.