Capital Punishment

[The Grand Nudger]

Nope.  Nothing to do with hiding it.

The only difference between a public execution and a private one is that the latter is hidden from view.

There are some things, as far as I'm concerned, that should not be for public view.  Executions are one of them.  Another us child birth.

We have differences of opinion here.  I think that people seeing executions and death would help to solve some of the thornier issues around that just as much as seeing childbirth in a clear light would help with things like teen pregnancy and attitudes surrounding it.

A quick bullet to the back of the head seems fairly quick and efficient.  We also quickly kill sick animals with a single injection.  If it can be done for a dog, it can be done for a human.

It's very efficient, but it's never just.  We do kill sick animals, and we should allow sick people the same mercy - but a man on death row is rarely a man begging for the a sweet release of death.

But I'll repeat my stipulation: 100% certainty

Not possible, but it's a given for conversation.

Also, as I've stated, life in prison should mean life.

Meh, it should mean as long as it takes to demonstrate that a person is no longer a danger to their fellow man.  If that's life, that's life.  If it's not, it would be unjust to keep a reformed criminal in jail forever on account of some other asshole never managing to give a shit.

I had an acquaintance who was strangled to death by her boyfriend in the early 2000s.

That's unfortunate.  I've seen alot of death myself.  It's always painful and difficult.

He got "life" and is now free to get on with his life.  She's rotting in the ground.  Her life over.

Why should he be free?

Because he satisfied his debt under law.  We live in a world where people kill people, and that will never not be true, particularly if our response to living in that world is to kill people.  Perhaps he's served his time and taken stock of himself and his decisions.  Perhaps not, and he's out because of some little legal loophole....but it's rarely the case that western justice is merciful and understanding - despite broad public perception of it's alleged weakness. 

If that were true, it would be an argument for criminal justice reform, not capital punishment - in either direction.

Why is he still alive and she's not?  Because he's a killer..and we're not...or, at least not always, or we'd rather not be. Would it be fair to say that you understand and agree with the arguments against the death penalty, but that this doesn't change the way you feel about your friend's murderer. That you feel the way that you feel, but understand that this should not be an official policy of the state? That when you think of the death penalty, you think of him...and that would disqualify you even in your own eyes as a fair and just arbiter of his fate, or the fates of others subjected to the same process of sanctioned killing.