Though capital punishment, like abortion and gun control, seems to be one of those national hot issues, I've never thought enough to have an opinion on it.
I was watching Law & Order: SVU (I love the show. I can write a post on why I love the show.) and capital punishment is brought up a lot for the especially heinous crimes. During those shows, the various detectives argue about why it's a good or bad thing for society.
After thinking about it (maybe I'm still not done thinking about it), I still don't have an opinion on it. On one hand, it costs more to society, in a purely monetary sense, to incarcerate a prisoner for life. However, this way, supposedly, every single day that they are alive, they can think about this punishment of why they are there. Plus, this eliminates the chance of executing an innocent person.
On the other hand, if the convicted is truly a sociopath who doesn't care and won't repent, then it's better for society if we just kill him/her.
It then comes down to what is the nature of crimes? What are the statistics on different type of crimes, especially those that leads to execution? Are there more crimes of passion than premeditated murder? Are there more premeditated murders where the person is not likely to repeat the crime than serial killers? I wonder if those who work in the justice system, including law enforcement and prison guards, have different statistics than the general population on capital punishment?
Is it better to let 1000 criminals off than to kill 1 innocent man or woman?
I say no. Well. I lean towards no. Plus, ever since DNA testing, I find it hard to imagine mistakes of that magnitude making it through the justice system.
Competency for execution
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