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someguyfromcanada  ·  2662 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Should death Penalty be abolished?

The "right to life" is a meaningless buzzphrase. No one believes in the absolute sanctity of human life.

On one hand, the death penalty as it is implemented in the US does not accomplish the goals of justice or deterrence it purports to but certainly gives many the pleasure of blood-lust and revenge. There is no certainty that only guilty people are executed and we know that innocent people have been. Most people charged with death penalty offenses are not OJ and can not afford to mount a defence with the same resources that the State can. Sure they will get a free lawyer(s) but with limited resources. In the event that the defence does not work, even in the face of new exculpatory evidence, prosecutors are rarely willing to admit a mistake and it is difficult to get a case reopened. It is also far more expensive than housing someone in prison due to the cost of appeals, motions, etc. Very high cost and arbitrary deaths.

On the other hand, the State and all of us (even the most ardent pro-lifers) accept the fact that "innocent" people die all the time because that is what we have decided is good for society. We could design cars and roadways so that no occupant or bystander is ever killed. But that would be more expensive than what we are willing to bear. We could prevent all high-rise construction workers deaths, but we value high-rises more than the cost of worker's lives. So the State and populace have decided that some level of death among otherwise innocent people is OK because we value other things more highly than the value of life. We could enact safety standards that would prevent it but that would also drive the price of those things out of the realm of economic possibility for its citizens. Sure the State is not actively causing death in these scenarios but it is actively condoning it by structuring laws so it is a necessary result. Low cost and arbitrary deaths.

So here is the odd juxtaposition: we prefer cheap buildings, cars, etc. but also seem to prefer the higher cost of blood-lust more than the absolute sanctity of life.