Post by Calantha on Jan 1, 2007 21:57:31 GMT -5
tygerfairy said:
Though this is a tricky subject, I believe that alleviating the pressure on our pockets is not reason enough to sentence someone to death. The fact of the matter is, more than a few people have been executed prior to being proven innocent. Are we willing to sacrifice these people to the god of capitalist greed?
Of course the pressure on our pockets isn't a good enough reason to hold up capital punishment. But when you have a state that is already cutting government jobs (at a significant rate) while cost of living is increasing at a rate that the state is unable to properly deal with without cutting other important areas, the life of a person convicted as guilty seems lessened under the individual financial burdens.
So I don't think it's as easy as saying no to captial punishment without looking at what the other side is saying (and yes, while I like to hold my anti-capital punishment opinion, I do have to weigh how much of the "pressure on our pockets," is going to affect my own future salaries) and we're always looking for the quick fix.
With that said, I think one of the reasons so many people are pro-choice and against capital punishment or vice versa is partially because many people are narrowed into the two party system where most liberals will be pro-choice and against capital punishment, while conservatives will be pro-life and for capital punishment. I think it's easier for people to believe certain things when they are already on the liberal/conservative platform. And what those topics have in common that allow us to group them is the involvement of the government in our personal lives--it has nothing to do with killing/murdering/aborting whatever. It has to deal with what you can and can't make me do or tell me to do with my body--whether it is forcing me to die or telling me I can't abort my fetus.