Thread

1. tombert · 1790831351 · focus · HN ↗

   Oh yeah, I read about this.

   I'm pretty against capital punishment in general, so take that for what it is, but executing someone for something they did when they were eighteen really bothers me.

   I've never been a violent person but I do know that I was even more of an idiot then than I am now.

   1. JKCalhoun · 1790862690 · focus · HN ↗

      It's wrong to give "the State" the right to take a life. Period.

      My opinion, of course.

      To be sure, there are crimes so heinous that the perpetrator can no longer be allowed to roam freely in society. You might even believe that, from a moral standpoint, they have forfeited their own right to life. But you still don't give the state the power to take it.

      There are plenty of arguments for why you should not allow this, but, just an obvious one, in doing so you also give the state the right to take yours.

      1. tombert · 1790869106 · focus · HN ↗

         I think I am in broad agreement. If someone isn’t an immediate threat (and in the case of capital punishment they’re by definition confined and separated from society) then there’s no justification for killing them.

         I’m not a complete bleeding heart here; I am not going to pretend that the world is a worse place because we killed Ted Bundy. He was an awful human who you could make a pretty good argument for deserving to die. I just find the idea that the state is killing people pretty bad.

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