People I know who are anti death penalty activists and principled opponents in my experience tend to object to its racism its victimization of the poor, its reinforcement of the excessively punitive nature of criminal justice, its high error rate the risk of executing the innocent, and the lack of due process and adequate defense afforded people charged with capital crimes. Anti statism does not figure largely in my experience. I agree with these reasons given the current state of of our criminal justice system.
At the same time I favor the Chinese solution to serious white collar crimes and political corruption. "You are a Wall Street investment banker?" "Yes, but . . ." "Guilty. Death. Take him out back and shoot him. Charge the family for the bullet." (Just kidding--sort of.)
Sent from my iPad
On Oct 4, 2012, at 10:39 AM, Marv Gandall <marvgand at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 2012-10-04, at 9:45 AM, Wojtek S wrote:
>
>> On the other hand, I also see the focus on death penalty as a form of
>> knee-jerk anti-statistm that permeates the American popular culture.
>> Death penalty seems so objectionable to these folks, because it is a
>> drastic action taken by the state. The level of hysteria subsidies
>> when death is inflicted not by the state but by private individuals.
>
> Actually, you must know that American popular culture continues to strongly support rather than oppose the death penalty
>
> The minority of liberals and others who want to abolish capital punishment most often cite as the reason for their objection that it is "morally wrong to take a life" and the unacceptable risk of wrongful conviction - neither of which can be construed as hysterical knee-jerk anti-statism. I also very much doubt they view private homicide with relatively greater equanimity, as you suggest.
>
> See: http://www.people-press.org/2012/01/06/continued-majority-support-for-death-penalty/
>
>
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