Moral justification for the execution of criminals of war?

[bennyboy]

All values are subjective. Are you a tyro? We each have decided that our lives have a value to us. We therefore in our social contract recognize the fact that other people value their lives the same way we value our own, and thus we make social rules against killing. For that society then to say, "You broke our rule against killing people, so we're going to kill you" rather undercuts the entire scheme, don't you think? That's very eye-for-an-eye coming from someone who accuses others of being closet Christians. Maybe you've imbibed more than you think?

I'm not married to the idea of execution on philosophical grounds. You can let someone rot in a box if that serves your sense of justice better.

My position was that I see no particular difficulty in distinguishing between the state killing hardened criminals, and a general agreement that we intend not to murder each other in the streets. If someone has no regard for the responsibilities of membership in the society, then there's no particular reason that society should be bound in maintaining for him the privileges of that membership. Therefore, if executing such a person could save money, then the state could do so.


I'm not pursuaded by arguments that the society will be diminished in any way because the principle of right to life is undermined by execution. That's because (1) you can make specific exceptions against the general rule without devaluing the general rule; (2) I don't think such a general right really exists in America, given the many other ways in which apathy toward the well-being and survival of its citizens manifests.

Any effort spent trying to keep a moral expatriate alive as long as possible could be better spent in other ways, thereby serving the greater good-- even at the cost of one or two legitimate victims.

If it's punishment you're wanting to inflict, let them live in a box for the rest of their lives. The only thing the death penalty delivers is nothing that hasn't been promised to us the moment we started sucking air. Dead people cannot, by definition, be punished.

I'm not really that interested in the punishment of criminals, even hardened ones. Punishing a pedophile doesn't unrape and unmurder children. I'm not at all interested in their human rights, either, including their right to breathe.