(June 19, 2011 at 7:27 pm)Napoleon Wrote: How is one controllable and not the other?
You cannot, by definition, control another independent thinking being. You cannot predict their actions.
However, you can control yourself. And by definition, society is the aggregate of a population (assume you are a member of that populace).
Ergo, a society does have control over itself, to a loose degree. That is demonstrated by our laws and policies, which we use to enforce our collective control.
Therefore, while an individual other than self is uncontrollable, the collective actions taken upon and acted through are controllable and blessed by its populace.
Which is why committing an innocent to the gallows is murder most foul, collectively blessed by society. And also why such events are so distasteful to a great many -- because each member, by proxy, has participated in the death of an innocent.
I see accountability going both ways. And a society that does not hold itself accountable for the injustices it carries out has no business in justice, it merely is criminal.
Those societies are usually destroyed, one way or another.
(June 19, 2011 at 9:45 pm)FaithNoMore Wrote: For those that are saying innocent people will be executed, what do you have to say about only using the death penalty in cases where DNA has proven guilt?
Because DNA does not "prove" anything. It is up to those involved to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt.
And DNA evidence has been known to be misleading before. It doesn't take a genius to misrepresent, contaminate such evidence. Incompetence and laziness can do that on its own.
I ask you, FaithNoMore, what is the purpose of punishments like the death penalty in the first place? Is it to reform? Serve as an example? Is it merely to prevent waste? After all, a man who is clearly guilty of great crimes must be worth less, in some form to warrant executing them well after they've been contained, isolated.
It chills me most of all to think that a human being could be considered a form of "waste", criminal, dissident or otherwise. And it speaks volumes of the humanity a man holds for his fellows when others become "garbage" to him.
