tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481638863553152364.post7418793931661653207..comments2023-03-26T07:17:38.680-07:00Comments on the mystical limpet: Life in MarylandTravis Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06595790311812320371noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481638863553152364.post-74579771459356074372008-12-15T18:54:00.000-08:002008-12-15T18:54:00.000-08:00Well, I think if we're really following Christ in ...Well, I think if we're really following Christ in the most radical way we can, we wouldn't defend ourselves against an intruder (Jesus never said it'd be easy). Whether Christians can use violence to defend others is an old debate about which I think folks can reasonably disagree, although I'm becoming more and more of a pacifist. But that's a matter of Christian ethics, not American law. The law absolutely recognizes self-defense as justifiable homicide, and I seriously doubt that will ever change. It's hard enough to convince a majority of people that we shouldn't execute the mentally retarded.<BR/><BR/>Morally, I think there's a huge difference between using lethal force to prevent a crime like murder (a decision made in a split second), and calmly and deliberately pumping someone full of poison or electricity until they die, even though it changes absolutely nothing about what they did. I have the greatest sympathy for those who have had family members murdered. I can't imagine how horrific that would be. But protecting life through execution, as Derek Webb memorably puts it, is like purity by way of fornication.Travis Greenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06595790311812320371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481638863553152364.post-48878463049363638392008-12-15T16:43:00.000-08:002008-12-15T16:43:00.000-08:00Thanks for that information - good insight as I di...Thanks for that information - good insight as I dive into conversations with others. Think about an America with no death penalty - do you think that the protection of life from capital punishment could lead to negative things such as protection so extreme that it criminalizes those that would excercise self-defense, say, after killing an intruder? Assuming you would see that as a negative, that is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481638863553152364.post-57420114675753075122008-12-15T10:12:00.000-08:002008-12-15T10:12:00.000-08:00Here's an article on New Jersey since they got...Here's an article on New Jersey since they got rid of capital punishment. Basically, it hasn't affected their ability to prosecute murders at all. <BR/><BR/>http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-14/1229319352223800.xml&coll=1&thispage=1<BR/><BR/>Bear in mind that laws vary state to state, so some of their specific sentences are different than what someone would get in NC or FL. Line up a map of executions and a map of the Confederacy, and you'll see why.Travis Greenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06595790311812320371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481638863553152364.post-2838145996404234642008-12-15T10:10:00.000-08:002008-12-15T10:10:00.000-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Travis Greenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06595790311812320371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481638863553152364.post-51931765393772360882008-12-15T10:02:00.000-08:002008-12-15T10:02:00.000-08:00It's a common objection, and it's understandable. ...It's a common objection, and it's understandable. It's counter-intuitive that life in prison is cheaper than the death penalty, but it's true. In NC, for instance, defendants charged capitally are entitled to 2 lawyers, compared to 1 for capital cases. That makes court costs at least twice as expensive right off the bat (it's easy to scoff at the state paying for this until you remember the presumption of innocence and the fact that poor folks are entitled to the same justice that rich folks are). And they're professionally and constitutionally required to do much more work than in a noncap case.<BR/><BR/>I guess one could argue that death penalty cases should require no more resources than non-death penalty cases, but that seems awfully cavalier about life. The courts have repeatedly (and quite rightly) decided that the death penalty requires a much higher degree of deliberation. Capital trials take many times as long as non-capital trials. Appeals can go on for years (and we wouldn't want them not to, given how many death sentences are subsequently commuted to life anyway, not to mention the people found totally innocent). <BR/><BR/>The point is, in a noncapital murder case, you lock them up and throw away the key. They get one more appeal on the state's dime, and then that's pretty much it. People on death row are (and again, should be) entitled to much more careful scrutiny, endless appeals, that the taxpayers pay for up to and including petitioning governors for clemency. <BR/><BR/>It's simply not worth the trouble, even if you agree with its aims. Let's spend that money on more police and other programs to prevent crime in the first place.<BR/><BR/>One of the reasons Maryland is considering abolishing the DP, for instance, is that given the costs of having the death penalty on the books and the relatively small number of actual sentences carried out, MD taxpayers paid $37.2 million for each of the 5 executions they've carried out since 1972. Does that seem like a good use of resources?<BR/><BR/>More info:<BR/><BR/>http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty#financialfactsTravis Greenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06595790311812320371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7481638863553152364.post-21155566734515913662008-12-15T09:36:00.000-08:002008-12-15T09:36:00.000-08:00Good thoughts, Travis. I'm interested to hear any...Good thoughts, Travis. I'm interested to hear any facts on the cost of life in prison versus the cost of capital punishment. It seems that is a popular argument within my traffic patterns of life.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com