Defending the Truth

Here is my argument which could possibly win support from both sides:

In a case with hard evidence (DNA, video, and so on..) where the convicted felon IS the murderer, why not let the families choose his fate? I think that is most rational in the defense of revenge. If some families feel the murderer should get life in prison, then so be it. If a family wants the murderer to seek capital punishment, then that wish should be granted and commended.

In cases of mass-murder, well then I think the Government should have the choice to decide.

What do you think?? I think this position would win more support as compared to being just for or against capital punishment..

Hard to make that fair. You'll have some cupcake family that forgives the murderer and wants to give him another chance at life. On the other side of the spectrum, you'll have a family that wants to personally throw the switch.

Well, like in the case of my family, you will have dissent within the family, too.

My brother would have taken the bastards out, single handedly. My sister, Marion, won't even kill a mosquito, and has 180 degree opposite thought on that.

Also, RHS, that's a lot of responsibility to put on the family in a very trying time. They might make a decision in haste, but repent at leisure.

That is a good point...

Agreed, putting that type of decision on the shoulders of the family probably isnt good.
And like Knot said, they might choose too quickly

One of the last places you'd expect of find profound statements would be in a Batman movie. But in the 1995 feature "Batman Forever," Two-Face (played by Tommy Lee Jones) has this line.

"Emotion has always been the enemy of justice."

That's true, and that's why I utterly oppose ideas like this. We simply CAN NOT base our justice system on the feeling of people with a direct stake in these matters. Our courts simply cannot be the tools of emotion.

I favor the death penalty, but not based on such arguments as "how would you feel if somebody in your family was killed?"

That's a blatant appeal to emotion, and a poor argument. Such arguments should be abandoned.