Quote:
Originally posted by NY Madman:
I don't think death penalty laws are meant to deter crime. They are an instrument of the state to protect society and remove it's most dangerous. The death row population will not decrease because of death penalty laws. Most criminals on death row are sociopaths.
If that's how you view it, I respect that. I just hear too many people try to justify it by saying it's a deterent (sp?).

And a LOT of people argue against abortion because it violates the sanctity of life. They should be against the death penalty, too, as it violates the sanctity of life, even if the one who may get executed is the absolute worst criminal possible.

Oh...and I realized I worded a sentence wrong - I meant to say I have no problem with abortion if the fetus *isn't* viable. Beyond that... I can't say. I don't know if anyone can truly say what their view is until they find themselves in that situation.
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"Nature has constituted utility to man the standard and test of virtue. Men living in different countries, under different circumstances, different habits and regimens, may have different utilities; the same act, therefore, may be useful and consequently virtuous in one country which is injurious and vicious in another differently circumstanced" - Thomas Jefferson, moral relativist