""The death penalty is about revenge, not justice."

Here goes Bill D again:

I'm sorry, it certainly is for some...even for many- but it is not that for everyone.

We cannot read minds... and many people view it much as they would culling overpopulating deer or shooting a marauding lion who preys on a village in Africa.

I am not defending the death penalty--- there are far too many problems with flaws in both flawed convictions and the current 'methods' --- but it IS possible to treat it as one theoretical pragmatic solution to dealing with evil.

There is a phrase.. "with extreme prejudice" that is used to explain.. if not to justify... an assassination of an enemy- or even an out-of-control friend of some sort. I can see the point of the concept, even as I would hate being involved in such matters.

As I posted above, 'most' of us can imagine situations where we would use deadly force...if possible.. to protect the family, etc. It is not a huge leap to the idea of eliminating permanently a known & avowed threat.. i.e., a murderer who has killed again after escaping or being paroled.

I still predict that society's view will change over time as crime & danger increase.

   Do the math... if there is always a certain % of the population which resorts to evil & crime, and the population continues to increase, and the need for more & more prisons costing more & more money and requiring more & more people willing to be prison guards keeps growing, there MUST come a time when there are not only many dangerous criminals near everyone, but practical ways of incarcerating them and training psychiatrists to treat them is not in ANY budget.


We cannot simply define executions as 'barbaric', any more than we can define all abortion as ... wicked/murder/immoral... whatever.

I favor counseling. treatment, gun control, legal reform, and a host of other things in the attempt to minimize all consideration of the death penalty... I just doubt the very long-term societal view that banning it will solve much. YMMV