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Originally Posted by Katczinsky  What about the wrongful conviction and execution of an innocent person? | Exactly. "It is better ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer." -Sir William Blackstone
At least, if you later realize that a jailed person is innocent, you can release him/her. Pretty tough to do that if he/she has been executed. Quote:
Originally Posted by Katczinsky Plus, if someone were so heinous as to commit, lets say, mass murder: then I doubt they value life in the first place, so maybe killing them would be doing them a favor? To me it seems that life in prison and isolation is more a punishment than the death penalty, anyway. Especially for someone who doesn't value life. | I agree.
People will usually bring up the cost of life imprisonment here as a counter argument. The fact is, it actually costs more to execute someone, when you take into account all the legal work, appeals, court time, etc.
But even if it were cheaper, is that a justification?
We are killing this guy to save money?
Brings us right back to the "How much is human life worth?" discussion.
The other point, of course, is that prison is NOT for punishment.
It's for rehabilitation.
Pretty tough to try to rehabilitate a guy after a visit to the electric chair. |