>From: Charlie Stross <charlie@antipope.org>
>
>On Tue, Apr 18, 2000 at 05:37:56PM -0700, Zero Powers wrote:
> >
> > Although I tend toward the "bleeding heart" end of the spectrum, I look
>at
> > capital punishment as a cost vs. benefit analysis. You got a human scum
> > (say, Charlie Manson) who has amply demonstrated that he will never be
>good
> > for anything except warming a prison cell. Do we keep him alive for no
>good
> > reason until he wastes away, at a cost of umpteen thousand dollars per
>year,
> > or do we put him and us out of our mutual misery by killing and
>cremating
> > him at a cost of a few thousand and be done with it? The answer to me
>seems
> > obvious.
>
>Unless you take into account the possibility that he might be innocent
>but wrongly convicted. Here in the UK, they've tightened up the appeals
>and miscarriages-of-justice process a bit in the past few years, and
>added DNA testing to the battery of forensic techniques available.
>The result is that roughly 10-15% of historic "guilty" verdicts are
>being overturned, in crimes as serious as murder.
>
>Face it, the judicial system is a system created by human beings. As
>such, it is fallible -- even without side-issues like police corruption
>and political interference.
>
>Think of that nice warm prison cell Charlie Manson sleeps in every night
>as YOUR personal insurance premium against being summarily executed for
>a crime you didn't commit.
Hmmm. That, as they say, is a good point.
-Zero
"I like dreams of the future better than the history of the past"
--Thomas Jefferson
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