gbaji wrote:
Kirby the Eccentric wrote:
Sure, why not?
Emotions should not play any part in the sentences criminals get.
And the case against the death penalty doesn't play on emotions either? I would expect that if you contrasted a group of people who supported the death penalty to a group who oppose it, you'll find a lot more emotion coming from the later group.
I was not commenting on the feelings of the jury, or the general public.
And I would say it's probably the same amount of emotion on either side anyway. There are of course varying levels of thought and feeling expressed by people on either side of the fence. Those against capital punishment might seem more vocal, but then, they have to be. They are the ones who want to see something still being used today, removed completely from use.
About my statement, it should have been:
Emotions should not play a major part in the sentences criminals get.
Because obviously, the judge has to weigh the circumstances together, and emotion will play a part in that no matter how hard the judge tries to be impartial.
I made the statement without first understanding how the sentence (where capital punishment is an option) gets decided, and still have not found a definitive answer.
If the judge has control over choosing between a life sentence (or a suitable number of years in prison), and the death penalty, I see that as being highly affected by emotion, rather than a rational decision.
If the judge can not decide to sentence a convicted murderer with a prison term, and is stuck with sentencing a death penalty in some countries/states, then it makes it even more necessary to remove capital punishment as a sentence.
Not to say that it's unnecessary to abolish capital punishment as an option in the previous circumstance.
Edited, Apr 26th 2010 8:49pm by Kirby