Capital Punishment

[downbeatplumb]

Get ready for a backlash.

I support the death penalty for certain crimes and certain degrees of crime.

Serial killers, vicious murderers, terrorists who actually commit acts of terror, among others, should be removed from the planet if there is absolutely no doubt about their guilt.

I'm not talking about a nasty death, either.  A quick removal is appropriate.

Many people who have been executed have been found later to be innocent. 

The "absolutely no doubt about their guilt bit" is a slippery slope.

[The Grand Nudger]

Refusal to follow that order would be an act of flaming leftyism.

The order IS flaming lefty......


Refusal to follow the order would be the farthest from the left possible. Saying otherwise makes you sound like an alien who just showed up and isn't yet familuar with the locals..

Or, maybe..it makes me sound like a person who knows what those terms mean, even if mushmouthed "locals" like yourself don't.  50/50

[onlinebiker]

The order IS flaming lefty......


Refusal to follow the order would be the farthest from the left possible. Saying otherwise makes you sound like an alien who just showed up and isn't yet familuar with the locals..

Or, maybe..it makes me sound like a person who knows what those terms mean, even if mushmouthed "locals" like yourself don't.  50/50

Nope.
It makes you just look more stupid than just a bad haircut....

[The Valkyrie]

Get ready for a backlash.

I support the death penalty for certain crimes and certain degrees of crime.

Serial killers, vicious murderers, terrorists who actually commit acts of terror, among others, should be removed from the planet if there is absolutely no doubt about their guilt.

I'm not talking about a nasty death, either.  A quick removal is appropriate.

Many people who have been executed have been found later to be innocent. 

The "absolutely no doubt about their guilt bit" is a slippery slope.

No.

A downhill water slide is a slippery slope.

Having a minimum level of assurance that the wrong person doesn't get executed is a standard.

Hence if there is even the tiniest fraction of a doubt then the sentence is life in prison.

And I do mean life.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Many people who have been executed have been found later to be innocent. 

The "absolutely no doubt about their guilt bit" is a slippery slope.

No.

A downhill water slide is a slippery slope.

Having a minimum level of assurance that the wrong person doesn't get executed is a standard.

Hence if there is even the tiniest fraction of a doubt then the sentence is life in prison.

And I do mean life.

But there will ALWAYS be that 'tiniest fraction of a doubt'.  I agree that life should be life, though.

Boru

[UtilitarianDeist]

If capital punishment pleases God then it's a good thing.

If capital punishment displeases God then it's a bad thing.

But my guess is that God isn't usually paying much attention to this planet. Or rather ,he is always paying attention to it but only a small proportion of his attention is directed to it (IOW the portion of God that resides within us on this planet is absolutely tiny compared to the rest of the universe that God resides in) .... so it's probably very close to morally neutral really.

What we do on this planet doesn't *particularly* matter.

But as our world is full of cruelty my guess is that God may be what most people would consider 'evil' and God may be something like the God within the Old testament. This doesn't *actually* make God evil because objectively-speaking the truth of classical utilitarian + his existence says that his happiness is all that matters because it outweighs all beings on this planet put together. If God is labelled 'sadistic' or 'evil' for enjoying watching us rape and kill each other then that is not actually evil it's objectively good because it pleases God and that's what goodness objectively *is* under his existence + classical utilitarianism. I don't accept that the thought experiment of the 'utility monster' is a good argument against utilitarianism. If God is a 'monster' then he's a good monster. An ultimately good monster.

[The Grand Nudger]

Classical utilitarianism states that we should bring about the greatest good for the greatest number. The idea that a being called a god determines good and evil by what it likes is subjectivism, not utilitarianism.

[The Valkyrie]

No.

A downhill water slide is a slippery slope.

Having a minimum level of assurance that the wrong person doesn't get executed is a standard.

Hence if there is even the tiniest fraction of a doubt then the sentence is life in prison.

And I do mean life.

But there will ALWAYS be that 'tiniest fraction of a doubt'.  I agree that life should be life, though.

Boru

In some few cases there is absolutely no doubt about the guilt of an individual. The Christchurch shooter springs to mind.

And he does fall into my category of criminals who does qualify for the death penalty.

But, as I've stated a couple of times, if life in prison was to actually mean "life" and not out in 10 to 20 years, I'd be happy to change my stance.

And I know there's very little chance that the Chch shooter will ever get out of jail.

[UtilitarianDeist]

Classical utilitarianism states that we should bring about the greatest good for the greatest number.  The idea that a being called a god determines good and evil by what it likes is subjectivism, not utilitarianism.

If God is capable of experiencing infinitely more happiness and suffering than what is experienced on this tiny planet then his happiness and suffering absolutely does outweigh ours under classical utilitarianism.

To simplify things, image that there are 7 billion humans on this planet and each experiences just 1 hedon of utility. That equates to a total utility of 7 billion.

Now image that God alone is capable of experiencing an infinite amount of hedons. Infinity is a lot more than 7 billion. Do you see now?

[The Grand Nudger]

I see that you don't understand classical utilitarianism. It's pointless to try and argue your position with me because I'm not arguing against it when I tell you that you've picked the wrong label for it.