I don't know how many of you have followed this, but the last of three gangmembers sentenced to death for brutally murdering two teenage girls in Houston will be executed today. Thoughts?
I have a negative, visceral reaction to the death penalty. Due to its severe and decidedly final nature, the harm caused by capital punishment if applied to an innocent defendant, even if discounted for the very low probability that such a miscarriage of justice will occur, is almost a dealbreaker for me.
And yet, I still support the death penalty. The state should have the power to bring the collective disapprobation of society down upon the head of someone who is responsible for so brutal a crime. Barring the potential for misapplication, I can't side with those who are anti-capital punishment on human rights grounds. If all people behaved like the murderers in this case, would the concept of human rights even remain salient, absent any manifestation of the nobility of the human spirit? I think these men may have relinquished their human rights when they relinquished their humanity, and the state does no wrong to take their lives.
I have a negative, visceral reaction to the death penalty. Due to its severe and decidedly final nature, the harm caused by capital punishment if applied to an innocent defendant, even if discounted for the very low probability that such a miscarriage of justice will occur, is almost a dealbreaker for me.
And yet, I still support the death penalty. The state should have the power to bring the collective disapprobation of society down upon the head of someone who is responsible for so brutal a crime. Barring the potential for misapplication, I can't side with those who are anti-capital punishment on human rights grounds. If all people behaved like the murderers in this case, would the concept of human rights even remain salient, absent any manifestation of the nobility of the human spirit? I think these men may have relinquished their human rights when they relinquished their humanity, and the state does no wrong to take their lives.