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I support the death penalty but this video is challenging my thoughts about outlawing it in countries where the criminal does not have the "protections" our nation has.
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I noticed you put 'protections' in quotes - don't you think there are some executed people in the U.S who were innocent?
Absolutely. That's why The Innocence Project was formed. There has been a moratorium on executions here in Illinois for several years for that reason. While serving as a US Senator, President Obama worked closely with Illinois law enforcement to pass a bill mandating the taping of all interrogations in capital crimes cases...to protect both officers and suspects.
Interesting video. I understand these men are doing their "jobs" and go about it in a professional and calculated manner as to not bring any un-needed pain and suffering to the subject (as if having a body part lopped off in any manner won't hurt a little). But what blows me away is the "bring your kid to work day" thing that seems to be celebrated. To me, it is blood lust and nothing more. I get it that our cultures are light years apart, but watching a human head beaing chopped off, even if it is a convicted murderer is something no one should be forced to see, let alone want to see. Wow, is all I can say.
I kind of enjoyed the part showing the executioner's kids inheriting superior respect amongst their classmates for having a pop that was more important and threatening than theirs. The life-and-death pop is a bigger attribution than whose pop makes the most money or pays the most in bribes.
Fear is the name of the Fundi Religious Game.
ALBERT CAMUS: "Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear."
Truly ugly people as a culture, and as individuals.
The innocence project estimates a full third of the men doing prison time for stranger rape, that's rape where the victim didn't know the attacker beforehand, are innocent. DNA testing is bearing this out. A full third and here most of us should view one in a thousand as unacceptable.
And this is why I will never support the DP. Because there is a very real possibility that someone who has already been executed was, in fact, innocent.
There's NO way to ensure that a person is guilty beyond any doubt. The "beyond a reasonable doubt" burden of proof is not good enough for me when it comes to killing someone.
I'm also philosophically opposed to government taking a life at all, except in the case of necessary wars, so even if there was a way to prove 100% that the offender was guilty, I would still be opposed.
And this is why I will never support the DP. Because there is a very real possibility that someone who has already been executed was, in fact, innocent.
There's NO way to ensure that a person is guilty beyond any doubt. The "beyond a reasonable doubt" burden of proof is not good enough for me when it comes to killing someone.
I'm also philosophically opposed to government taking a life at all, except in the case of necessary wars, so even if there was a way to prove 100% that the offender was guilty, I would still be opposed.
"Proof" is a work relating to science.
To prove whether an attractive woman was a witch, one only needed to throw her into a pond and observe whether she had witchy enough powers to not drown.
Drowning was proof she was not a witch.
Watch out when you see religion fooling around with science.
I kind of enjoyed the part showing the executioner's kids inheriting superior respect amongst their classmates for having a pop that was more important and threatening than theirs. The life-and-death pop is a bigger attribution than whose pop makes the most money or pays the most in bribes.
Truly ugly people as a culture, and as individuals.
That is so true.
Friends feared the kids Father. Guy gets respect because he kills people.
For many centuries, the death sentence for traitors in England was to be "hung, drawn and quartered." The prisoner was hung for a short period, they were gutted (still alive), then beheaded and their bodies cut into fourths. Their heads and body parts were then displayed on the gates of various towns on spikes...until they rotted enough to fall off. The French Revolution was from 1789 to 1799; the guillotine was busy, and it wasn't that long ago. Inhumanity is seldom far beneath the
surface, as the OP has shown. I appreciate the Camus quote, ergohead; King Arthur has come to us
through literature as arguing that "right makes might" and not the opposite. This is all the more reason for the US to hold itself to a higher standard.
This thread is your baby; check the link provided to The Innocence Project to answer your question. And not every criminal professes innocence...it's called
making a confession.
Friends feared the kids Father. Guy gets respect because he kills people.
Friends also feared the executioner's kids.
Executioner's kid: "I don't gotta study hard because when I grow up, I am going to be an executioner like my pop. You all better start kissing my ass now."
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