|
Tldr; The death penalty is necessary, not as a punishment, but as a last resort treatment; and probably applied way too frequently in the US.
The death penalty is ineffective at preserving social norms, and we'd have to be blind to the historical evidence that it would convince anyone who would do murder to make a different choice; as deterrents only work on people who harbor the belief that they might not get away with it. However, the death penalty needs to exist; if only to cull those who's acts are so heinous that society/judicial system must accept its own failures, and expunge them. Bottom line is for serial/repeat/compulsive murderers; a dead person can't kill again. At some level as a civilaztion we need to either kill that person, or bear the responsibility for violent and depraved acts that these individuals commit. In mind the question is not: did Ted Bundy deserve to die, but did we need to kill him to prevent further loss of life? I
|