From a substantive justice perspective ("Is an eye for an eye good policy?") I think you are right. From a procedural justice perspective ("Can we trust the state to administer an irreversible punishment?") I must respectfully disagree. Police and prosecutorial misconduct occur all the time. Juries made up of good, honest people are misl…
From a substantive justice perspective ("Is an eye for an eye good policy?") I think you are right. From a procedural justice perspective ("Can we trust the state to administer an irreversible punishment?") I must respectfully disagree. Police and prosecutorial misconduct occur all the time. Juries made up of good, honest people are misled by feckless prosecutors and unable to see evidence that has been suppressed. What should happen when new evidence comes to light after the jury has already spoken? These are massive problems with HOW America does capital punishment. Check out innocenceproject.org.
There's actually a very pro-life argument for capital punishment: if life is so valuable, then death is a just punishment for murder.
That said, I have many concerns with how criminal trials work in the US, and I'm leaning towards opposing or at least reforming when we apply capital punishment, in the interest of saving innocent people.
From a substantive justice perspective ("Is an eye for an eye good policy?") I think you are right. From a procedural justice perspective ("Can we trust the state to administer an irreversible punishment?") I must respectfully disagree. Police and prosecutorial misconduct occur all the time. Juries made up of good, honest people are misled by feckless prosecutors and unable to see evidence that has been suppressed. What should happen when new evidence comes to light after the jury has already spoken? These are massive problems with HOW America does capital punishment. Check out innocenceproject.org.
There's actually a very pro-life argument for capital punishment: if life is so valuable, then death is a just punishment for murder.
That said, I have many concerns with how criminal trials work in the US, and I'm leaning towards opposing or at least reforming when we apply capital punishment, in the interest of saving innocent people.