Re: Capital punishment

den Otter (otter@globalxs.nl)
Fri, 20 Jun 1997 19:42:13 +0200


Tony B. Csoka wrote:

"What is the extropian stance on punishment? Personally, I am against
the death penalty because I don't believe that two wrongs make a right.
However, the issue takes on an added dimension when, in our envisioned
immortalist future, murder is equivalent to denying someone eternity. What
should the punishment be then?"

Well, I think execution is the only right punishment for murderers, now and
in the
future. In fact, the whole justice system should be according to the
supremely fair
and consequent "an eye for an eye" principle. The punishment should be like
a mirror
image to the crime. Of course this usually isn't possible for reasons of
practicality, but
it *should* be the basic idea behind every judicial decision.

Of course, c.p. should only exist in an "enlightened Extropian State",
where you can
actually (more or less) trust the legal authorities and (thus) only the
guilty are punished.

Reasons why to prefer execution over incarceration:

1) It (execution) is a lot cheaper (no endless appeals in the new
system)---Eternal
imprisonment is infinitely (!) expensive.
2) It will prevent repetition by the same offender (guaranteed !)---One can
escape from prison
or get paroled or pardoned by bleeding heart humanists (and kill again).
3) It *probably* has a better preventive function than imprisonment.
4) It satisfies the rightful need for revenge of the freinds & relatives of
the victim
a lot better than the prison alternative.
5) It is the most rational, fair and consequent punishment for a horrible
crime.
If someone is killed, his future is taken away from him. Consequently, the
offender
should have no future either, not even in prison.

The only really valid objection against capital punishment is the fact that
if you
accidentally execute an innocent person, you can't "bring him back".
Fortunately,
we have cryonics. Once (in a couple of decades or so) it is proven that
suspensions
can be successfully "reversed", it could become a standard practice to
"freeze" a
convict after execution. In case of a judicial error (which is btw very
unlikely in an
"Extropian System"), you can revive the victim, make excuses, pay damages,
and
all is well.

Incidentally, I think corporal punishment should be (re-)introduced also.
It is cheap,
effective and very just...

Dalibor den Otter
otter@globalxs.nl