This is why we ignore layman's opinions on the death penaltyFollow

No love for Casimir Pulaksi!

Not to ruin the mood the next time you settle down to twirl the pearl while watching the History Channel, but the Marquis de Lafayette is dead as well

One of my artiste friends taught me a lil' something about war heroes, and it applies in pretty much every country-it's neatO. If the officer is on a horse and the horse is rearing (2 feet off the ground), said hero died in the midst of battle. If only one foot is cocked, then he died as a result of wounds inflicted in battle. If all four hooves are on the ground, he died of other unrelated causes, usually old age.
tee-hee. Useless facts 4tehwin!!!

This is why I don't share with you.
If the horse's bridle is old and tattered, the soldier was a ******.

I'd make a Peruvian joke except I've never seen a statue of a calvary officer on a

That's b/c we rode alpacas, but thanks for the stereotype.

Racist.

Fixed.

I'm just crosstalk around here, anyway.

What the hell are you on about? This is about heartthrobs from the Revolutionary War.

OMG Molly Pitcher!

I'm going to stay true to Túpac Amaru. Any man that can't be torn into bits by wild stallions gets my vote.

Let's be fair about the analysis though. Life imprisonment lacks deterent value just as much as executions do. The fact is that very few punishments allowed by our constitution actually act as deterents. The average criminal starts out by assuming he's not going to be caught, not the other way around.

As Totem pointed out (if you read his entire post), it's not just about deterent, and it's not just about punishment. At some level it's *also* about measuring out the "cost" of a crime. We should have capital punishment. And we should also hate whenever we hand it out. Because on some level the death penalty serves to remind us that we're not a perfect society and prevents us from becoming complacient.

Another way to look at it is this: What is the purpose and value of demanding life imprisonment in place of execution? Is it truely out of a desire to avoid the possibility of accidentally killing someone who didn't deserve it? Or is it because it's easier to assuage the guilt of punishment if it's not seen as "too harsh"? Do we accept life imprisonment more easily because it's not an execution? Are we more willing to ignore our justice system if it's not going past a particular threshold?

More importantly, if we feel guilty about executing people, does it not *also* make us more careful to make sure our system is as good as it can be? One can point to the innocence project and point to the handful of deathrow inmates who have been cleared because of it. But one can also point out that had they not been on deathrow, no one would have felt such a powerful need to check and double check their cases...

It's good for society to feel bad about it's criminal justice system. Because it guarantees that we'll always question it and check it. The day we're all "happy" with the system is the day it becomes truely dangerous.



I think you're taking a very shallow look at the purpose of capital punishment in a society. Individuals may have different reasons for wanting or not wanting it. But the effect and purpose for a society as a whole is a totally different thing.

I'm a liberal that actually supports the death penalty. If someone killed a family member of mine, damn Skippy I want them dead. My political platform means little at the time.

I'll go as far to say that a child sex offender should face capital punishment (A minor the age of 12 or under).