> The abolition of death
> penalty may be thought of as an insurance policy -- you insure
> against the possibility of killing innocents by mistake, the
> inevitable cost of insurance being the necessity to deprive the truly
> guilty of the right to be responsible for their crimes and punished
> accordingly.
> --
> Yoshie
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Substitute obligation for right and you're pretty much on target. The right not to be killed by another incurring an obligation on others not to kill and an obligation on the State to hold others responsible for the violation of a right and an obligation. Given the prevalence of rights talk and all that..........
Ian