03-10-2009, 06:16 AM
Hi,
Am I willing to put up with an error rate? Yes, both for false positives and false negatives. But the evidence seems to indicate that false positive rate is way too high, even in the judicial system which we have, where the accused have all the rights and the victims have none. So, in practice I have to change my stance. Fix the system, and only after that is done (if ever) use the death penalty. Until then, kill no one on the basis of corrupt cops, incompetent defense attorneys, twelve people too stupid to dodge jury duty, and senile judges.
--Pete
Quote:Of course while I'm not against the death penalty, I'm also of the mindset that you better be damn sure if you use because you can't make any type of amends if it turns out you were wrong.In theory, I agree with you. The problem is that you can never truly be 'damn sure'. For most my life, I've defended the death penalty because some actions are just too evil to allow a lesser punishment. But the large number of cases that have been overturned by advances in forensics, especially DNA, causes me the doubt our system.
Am I willing to put up with an error rate? Yes, both for false positives and false negatives. But the evidence seems to indicate that false positive rate is way too high, even in the judicial system which we have, where the accused have all the rights and the victims have none. So, in practice I have to change my stance. Fix the system, and only after that is done (if ever) use the death penalty. Until then, kill no one on the basis of corrupt cops, incompetent defense attorneys, twelve people too stupid to dodge jury duty, and senile judges.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?