<DIV>First of all, I have found it provides good rhetorical leverage in discussing criminal justice issues with people who do not share my views, which are otherwise extremely pro-defendant, constitutional rights first and foremost. I am after all in part a criminal defense attorney. If I maintain all and only the positions that such a person would maintain, it's too easy to dismiss my arguments as What You Would Expect From Someone Like Him. The meaningless concession to the logical possibility that capital punishment might be OK if were weren't racist, if people had decent representation, etc., carries a lot of weight in getting people who wouldn't otherwise listen to my arguments to do so. Plus there is the added kick that the people on whom I could see using the rope (or needle) are the richest and most powerful elements of our own society . . . . I mean, I really can't see the point in wasting food on Henry Kissinger. There might a hungry rat somewhere who needed it  more. jks budge <budge@el-pleasant.org> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">On Tue, 17 Jun 2003 at 4:10pm andie nachgeborenen wrote: > > There are good practical reasons not to be a principled > abolitionist in our society. I'm curious as to what are these reasons? -- no Onan "superior sound quality" ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><hr SIZE=1> Do you Yahoo!? <a href="http://pa.yahoo.com/*http://rd.yahoo.com/evt=1207/*http://promo.yahoo.com/sbc/">SBC Yahoo! DSL</a> - Now only $29.95 per month!