🚀 go-pugleaf

My first observation is that I am a bit surprised with the 
dearth of discussion on this issue.  I really expected, based
on the lively debates of late, that the death penalty would have been
the main topic for the last couple of weeks.

While I can appreciate and even agree with the arguments put
forth by death penalty proponents, there are several things 
I find very disturbing about it all, and here they are in no 
particular order.

o  The party-like atmosphere with people singing and rejoycing about how
   *great* it is to put someone to death.

o  The government killing its citizens.  Probably not much to argue
   here, though.  Governments have been doing this since there have been 
   governments.

o  The ritualistic aspect of it all- the military handbook, the boiled
   and waxed hemp, the hood, the last words, the sillhouette.

o  That society demands that the killer be held responsible, yet also
   shrinks away from the consequences of its collective action. Most
   of the people I have spoken with and seen on television who support 
   capital punishment neither want to see the results when their wishes 
   come true, nor would they "pull the lever" themselves.

The following comments are not really relevent in some of the recent
cases, like Dodd, Bundy, Charles Campbell, and others where there is
really no doubt that they did the crimes:

Though not apparently a problem (yet) in Washington, I recall two
cases from Texas within the last 5 years: Randall Adams, of "Thin Blue 
Line" fame, and another man who was featured on 60 Minutes.  These men 
both appear to be INNOCENT but ended up on death row because prosecutors,
in their zeal to make someone (anyone?) pay the price for killing of
police officers, were able to find witnesses to say what needed to be
said for a death verdict in exchange for having charges dropped or reduced. 

Putting an innocent man in jail is bad, but putting an *innocent* man 
to death is SO bad, in my mind, that we cannot take the risk even if
there is the slightest doubt.

My conclusions:

So, if there must be a death penalty, it should be held in public for
all to see (or as one person has suggested, "hold it in the Kingdome and
have it on pay-per-view.").  This is necessary to make truly informed 
decisions.

Additionally, I don't think that there is any deterrent effect as long
as capital punishment is carried on behind closed doors, "sanitized"
for the public.
-- 
    Steve McCarthy, speaking solo por mio |   #include <witty_remark>
      reply: sjm2458@bcstec.ca.boeing.com |   #include <ascii.art>