Jump to content

Do you believe the death penalty is unethical?


Lyudmilascience

Recommended Posts

Technically it is the death penalty without trial, but yeah. It is irrelevant.

 

Technically it isn't, because it's not a penalty. It's not court mandated or even carried out by the state.

 

Now, if you view it as murder, you could describe it as legal murder, but that is quite a different thing than capital punishment.

 

If you want to be technical about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Technically it isn't, because it's not a penalty. It's not court mandated or even carried out by the state.

 

Now, if you view it as murder, you could describe it as legal murder, but that is quite a different thing than capital punishment.

 

If you want to be technical about it.

Legal Murder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those words are mutually exclusive. If it's legal, it is not murder.

 

Eh, from a rhetorical perspective, I think there is a case for the terms not being mutually exclusive.

 

If you're defining murder as a crime, then yes. If you're talking about murder as being the unethical taking of a human life, then you can talk about things that should, from an ethical perspective, be considered murder, but may or may not be from a legal perspective.

 

Taking a strictly legalistic view of the definition of murder hampers the ability to discuss that kind of issue in terms that are not overly convoluted.

 

Legal murder and the legal unethical taking of life communicate pretty much the same idea, but one of them is a bit cumbersome to use.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fair enough. A Legal Execution of an innocent person.

We are talking specifically about abortion, right (just want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding)? If so, and at the risk of taking this thread completely off topic, a fetus is not legally considered a 'person'.

Eh, from a rhetorical perspective, I think there is a case for the terms not being mutually exclusive.

Okay, that's fair. I feel like I'm starting to drive this discussion off course. My apologies.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are talking specifically about abortion, right (just want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding)? If so, and at the risk of taking this thread completely off topic, a fetus is not legally considered a 'person'.

Like the a 3 month old isn't a person because it can't think with advanced logic argument? A fetus, will inevitably become a person if nothing happens to it. So by aborting a fetus, you aborted a baby. By aborting a baby you aborted a child. By aborting a child you killed an adult. Killing an adult is murder. How is killing a fetus not? I did make a thread about this:

http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/100526-is-abortion-ethical/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

It might be somewhat off-topic except regarding the problem of criminals escaping prison, but I have been pondering some of the limitations of the standard punishment system that expresses severity of sentence as length of sentence. I think this system assumes that punishment is the only solution. The sentence should be intended to prevent future offenses, especially with offenders whose crimes can be predicted. Furthermore, it should be as effective as possible while only being as restrictive as we can justify per their offense. For example, in the case of a pedophile who commits a very mild offense but in doing so reveals his potential, this could involve tracking, libido reduction, et cetera. This would still be a life-sentence like the death penalty, but it could be cheaper and it lets us reverse false convictions.


Come to think of it, this would make false convictions a near non-problem. Since the punishment is distributed over a longer period of time, less of the punishment will have occurred by the time innocence is discovered. It's actually the opposite of the death penalty in that way.

Edited by MonDie
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A quick look as the various nations around the world with the Death Penalty vs one without show that the death penalty doesn't reduce crime. The only measurable benefit of it is in the gratification it provides those who support it.

 

Executions, top ten countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United States, Pakistan, Yemen, North Korea, Vietnam,and Lybia.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The only measurable benefit of it is in the gratification it provides those who support it.

 

 

Indeed, any culture that promotes, or enjoys the idea of, vengeance will have little regard for, the idea of, justice or rehabilitation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is going around in circles and people are just repeating what's already been said. <Yawns>

 

 

 

Indeed, any culture that promotes, or enjoys the idea of, vengeance will have little regard for, the idea of, justice or rehabilitation.

If a person is eligible to be put to death then the notion of rehabilitation is moot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is going around in circles and people are just repeating what's already been said. <Yawns>

 

If a person is eligible to be put to death then the notion of rehabilitation is moot.

Yes, this subject typically goes in circles. The death penalty is something that many countries use and for which there is strong support for. However it cannot empirically be proven beneficial for any society that uses it. In my opinion there is more evidence that suggests it is bad for society however every society is its own microcosm so endless debate can be drawn since the variables between societies are many. Ultimately some people supporty it and other do not. Those who dosupport it tend to argue from an emotional positions claiming the death penalty provides families with a sense of justice, is a deterrent, or otherwise deserved. Those who do not support it argue the contradiction of killing someone because killing is wrong and the ethics of empowering ones gov't to kills people who are detained.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This thread is going around in circles and people are just repeating what's already been said. <Yawns>

 

If a person is eligible to be put to death then the notion of rehabilitation is moot.

 

 

How is anyone eligible to be put to death?

 

Any society that would be happy to see their mother/family/friend in a hangman's noose, will fail to see the value of justice; only then is rehabilitation moot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

How is anyone eligible to be put to death?

 

Any society that would be happy to see their mother/family/friend in a hangman's noose, will fail to see the value of justice; only then is rehabilitation moot.

If they meet the criteria of a juridisdiction.

 

That is your assertion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which leads to peace?

What's peace got to do with it?

Yes, this subject typically goes in circles. The death penalty is something that many countries use and for which there is strong support for. However it cannot empirically be proven beneficial for any society that uses it. In my opinion there is more evidence that suggests it is bad for society however every society is its own microcosm so endless debate can be drawn since the variables between societies are many. Ultimately some people supporty it and other do not. Those who dosupport it tend to argue from an emotional positions claiming the death penalty provides families with a sense of justice, is a deterrent, or otherwise deserved. Those who do not support it argue the contradiction of killing someone because killing is wrong and the ethics of empowering ones gov't to kills people who are detained.

The conversation has reached a point of impasse, which is ok because that's the nature of this beast.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like the a 3 month old isn't a person because it can't think with advanced logic argument? A fetus, will inevitably become a person if nothing happens to it. So by aborting a fetus, you aborted a baby. By aborting a baby you aborted a child. By aborting a child you killed an adult. Killing an adult is murder. How is killing a fetus not? I did make a thread about this:

http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/100526-is-abortion-ethical/

I am in complete agreement with you and have a little experience that horrifies me with abortions. Approved by the SAME people that find the ultimate punishment for the worst offenders to be unethical.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Approved by the SAME people that find the ultimate punishment for the worst offenders to be unethical.

 

What about us that doesn't approve of the ultimate punishment but does agree with a woman's right to make her own decisions and lead her own life?

Edited by dimreepr
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.