Question For Death Penalty Opponents

[JoshuaD]

I have a similiar question which may or may not be as interesting. It addresses the same crowd:

Would you accept the execution of someone known to be innocent if afterwards the death penalty would be banned permanently?

The person being executed isn't OK with it, they want to be set free.

[The Dude]

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Thank you. I had hoped the number would be a bit higher for reasons you will soon see.

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I wish you hadn't said this, as it will surely skew the results.

I don't understand how anyone who doesn't believe in the death penalty can give you an answer of more then zero. To me, it seems that the reason people oppose the death penalty is that they are saying that the value of a human life can not be measured. That killing one criminal is not justified just because it prevents two others from dying (say by deterring others). Which boils down to the idea that you can't equate human lives. There should be no utilitarian calculus which includes lives.

Yet, as someone mentioned this is exactly what the question asks them to do. Put aside principles and ask how many x lives is worth it to prevent y.

[adios]

You're attributing a position to me that I actually don't have when you write:

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To me, it seems that the reason people oppose the death penalty is that they are saying that the value of a human life can not be measured. That killing one criminal is not justified just because it prevents two others from dying (say by deterring others).

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First prove to me that the death penalty reduces the number of murders significantly (we can discuss what significantly means) and I may be open to altering my position (since I have other misgivings). I have to be convinced of the detterent effect first and foremost and I don't find evidence of such.

[spaminator101]

not me

Perhaps I should have been more clear. If could prove to you that the death penalty saved y amount of lives, would that be enough to convince you to support it? If not (and I suspect for many people who are against the death penalty it wont) then any answer greater then zero, seems contradictory.

[chezlaw]

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Perhaps I should have been more clear. If could prove to you that the death penalty saved y amount of lives, would that be enough to convince you to support it? If not (and I suspect for many people who are against the death penalty it wont) then any answer greater then zero, seems contradictory.

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I agree. The problem only becomes difficult to me if the death penalty could be shown to cause the death of complete innocents (not the people under trial, even if innocent). As that seems unlikely the answer must be zero.

chez

[chomsky53]

hey david, did u ever think values cant be added across boundries? you probably cant understand this. read up then respond buddy. maybe then you will finally see the problem.

[jj_frap]

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This question obviously applies only to those who oppose the death penalty under any conditions:

Suppose a proposal was brought up that would limit the criteria for, and thus reduce, the number of executions. Something like "only those who murder for money are eligible for the death sentence". That's just an example.

Suppose further that we somehow know that if the proposal is enacted, for every hundred executions now being carried out, the number, under this proposal, would shrink to x. But we also know that if the proposal is enacted, there will no longer be any chance to muster up enough public support to totally ban the death penalty in this country.

How small a number would x have to be for you to support the proposal?

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I would never support the death penalty, not because I don't think the bastards deserve to die in many cases, but because no infalliable human justice system exists or could exist, and I have a hard time justifying immutable sentences like execution or castration for this very reason.

[erby]

i oppose the death penalty for all conditions, so for me x = 0 is my only option. However, I'm very interested to hear from those people who only oppose it in certain situations...I'm curious to hear what those are...

ERBY [img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img]