[lbo-talk] Singapore

[Marv Gandall]

On balance, the death penalty has been used too frequently by repressive states against the wrongfully convicted, petty criminals, political and religious dissidents, so-called adulterers and blasphemers, homosexuals, and others to justify it - even in the case of those accused of economic and war crimes, who should be incarcerated and, where possible, rehabilitated. It's well established that the death penalty is not a deterrent, so what purpose can it serve? Revolutionary armies, like conventional ones, which have taken reprisals have typically produce more recruits for the other side than their own.

It's my impression, BTW, that liberals and radicals opposed to the death penalty are equally opposed to inadequate health care and nutrition and in favour of rigorous auto and industrial safety standards, without favouring the latter to the exclusion of the former, as Woj suggests. 

On 2012-10-03, at 10:07 AM, andie_nachgeborenen wrote:


> I'm not a principled abolitionist. I don't think we can have a fair death penalty under present circumstances. But if, hypothetically,we were to execute war criminals and criminals against humanity under Nuremberg principles, Wall Street fraudsters, corrupt government officials, and government lawyers who devised rationales for torture, I wouldn't object. I'd be happy to defend or prosecute them. Obviously this is an alternate universe for the reasons Doug states. As things are I oppose the death penalty.
> 
> Sent from my iPad
> 
> On Oct 3, 2012, at 8:47 AM, "Carrol Cox" <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
> 
>> Doug:  In the US - can't speak for anywhere else - the love of the DP is a
>> symptom of a barbarically punitive approach to everything. The revival of
>> the DP in the mid- 
>> 1970s was a sign of a rightward repressive turn, and the fight against it is
>> a fight for a somewhat more decent society.
>> 
>> Yes.  Part of the definition of a leftist is uncompromising opposition to
>> the death penalty. It shouldn't even be a subject for debate.
>> 
>> Carrol
>> 
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