Brain Fertilizer

On the news yesterday, they were relating one of the Defense's arguments as to why he should get Life Imprisonment With No Chance of Parole.

To me, there are basically two reasons for the death penalty. Vengeance has nothing to do with it.

First, if you have already given someone a punishment that cannot be altered by anything he does, i.e., there is nothing he can do to make it less or worse, then you've lost any control on his behavior at all. A prisoner could then murder guards, rape fellow inmates, etc. You must always retain the right to end their life as the ultimate punishment, or you risk creating a monster by placing him beyond any further penalties. If that's not clear, I can expand on that somewhat.

Second, there are some actions by which a person forfeits their right to continue living in this world. Murder is one of these: If you consider someone's life (and all that entails: personality, hopes, dreams, accomplishments, etc) to be less important than your own convenience, then you are capable of any evil and should not be allowed to continue polluting the earth with your presence. Manslaughter isn't quite so cold and heartless. But right along with that, I would assert that serial, violent rapists have also forfeited their right to continue living, based on the amount of long-term damage they cause in pursuit of their own twisted urges. And right along with that, serial child molesters also forfeit their right to continue living.

It should be obvious, this is just in the theoretical case. There can be mitigating circumstances. Maybe only 10% of rapists should be executed, or maybe only 1%. I'd be open to arguments that if Michael Jackson is convicted of sexual abuse of children, that he should be at least subject to the possibility of the death penalty, because it would mean he used his money, fame, and power, not only to get the opportunity to abuse innocent children, but to conceal his guilt in order to continue doing so.

If you are sick, you have the responsibility to seek help. Willfully and consistently avoiding that responsibility is just as bad as willful and premeditated murder.

None of those arguments can be applied to a fetus. This is how someone can be pro-Life and pro-Death Penalty.