DtG,

I'm afraid I see it as your argument that doesn't hold water. A judge passing a death sentence is not doing it as an individual, he is doing it in the name of the society he has a legal and moral commitment to protect. And, as I said before, I think a society has the right to protect itself from the likes of Ian Huntley, Timothy McVay, Saddam Hussein, bin Laden, Mugabe, Idi Amin, Milosevic or Hitler. I would even extend that to just your average serial killer or rapist, drug lord or other cold-blooded killers.

I'm all for due process of law, but I'm not in favor of keeping alive people who have forfeited their right to live by taking the lives of others. I'd a thousand times rather see the money wasted on them spent helping people who are trying to live better lives and contribute to the wellbeing of the society.

Misophist
I assume you're making a joke by straddling the fence in such as way as to appease the pros while saying they can't possibly be right. You're right -- courts aren't perfect. But when the science, the witnesses and a host of other things all point to guilt, there comes a point at which a society has to say "enough!" and do something about it.

cheers,

david