Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Death Penalty

Based on my Saddam hanging post one might assume that I support the death penalty. I do not! In fact, it was this issue that started my converstion to the Democratic Party.

In principle I could support a limited application of a death penalty but in practice I do not think it should ever be used:

My argument against the death penalty is really quite simple: no system run by human beings can eliminate human error. If we error in applying the death penalty then there is no undue. That person's life cannot be restored.


And this argument does not even rely on the existence of illegal activity in the judicial system that may result in a false conviction: jail house snitches and cops faking or planting evidence are just a couple of examples. It simply says that people will make mistakes. Eye witnesses have been wrong. Forensic scientists, despite the lessons of CSI, can be wrong. If these mistakes are made and a the wrongly convicted person is dead then nothing can truely be done about it. However, if that person is sitting in a jail cell then s/he can be released and gov't restitution can be given.

Why did this start my conversion? Because in Illinois and the U.S. in general the GOP fought any and all reforms to the system. They denied the existence of corruption, illegal activity, and human error. For more information one can start at the Truth In Justice web site. The faults in the Illinois system was greatly detailed by the Chicago Tribune. As the facts became harder and harder to deny the GOP strengthened their support for the death penalty and added to the list of crimes could be punished by death.

Even prior the death penalty conversion I was opposed to much of the GOP's social agenda. Their penchant for interfering in people's bedroom activity and desire to eliminate all abortion rights. The death penalty issue was the tipping point. From there it was a continual movement to the left.

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