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And again:
The death penalty should not exist.
Not just because of the risk of innocent people being killed wrongfully, though yes, that is a part of it. But guilty people shouldn't die either.
Yes, that includes those ones. The ones who did the worst crimes imaginable, who harmed children, who killed innocent people- them, too.
Why?
Because no one has the right to kill another human being, and two wrongs don't make a right.
Because the instant you give a government entity the authority to determine who is and isn't worthy of life, you have already handed them the framework to get rid of undesirables. As we're seeing now the "pedophiles deserve the death penalty -> LGBT people existing next to children is pedophilia" pipeline.
Because if your government can kill you, they already have too much power over you.
Because the death penalty does nothing to actually deter crimes, and some studies suggest it might actually make the rates of violent crime increase.
Because our tax dollars shouldn't go to depriving people of their lives.
Because the only method of execution that comes close to being humane is lethal injection, and even that has a high failure rates as well as requiring medical professionals to break their respective ethical codes; in fact, pharmacists have started refusing to provide various DOJs with murder euthanasia cocktails precisely precisely because this goes against the principles of "do no harm."
Because it usually takes 20 years from sentencing to execution, and that constitutes psychological warfare/torture on prisoners.
Because there is nothing a death sentence will "accomplish" that can't also be done by a life sentence, minus the ultimate cruelty and power-trip for government officials and cops/wardens/etc. If the goal is punishment, deprivation of freedom already does that, let alone the rest of the mistreatment prisoners face. If the goal is sequestering from society, that is literally the definition of imprisonment.
Because, this bears repeating, if the government can kill you, they already have too much power over you.
Because forensic science is nowhere near as perfect as people want you to believe.
Because even when it is proven that there is sufficient cause to release an innocent person, those in power still will (as we saw today with Marcellus Williams) do everything in their power to murder them anyway for the sheer power-high.
Because it is better to let 100 guilty men go free than it is to convict one innocent one.
Because there are huge inequities in who gets the death penalty. Racism is baked into the entire "criminal justice" structure, and capital punishment is no different.
Because, by definition, anyone willing to execute another person is the last person who should be given the power to do so.
Because, it bears repeating, once you introduce a framework to remove undesirables from society, it will be expanded at the first opportunity.
Because the death penalty is, by definition, cruel and unusual punishment.
Because the death penalty is often carried out on innocent people (like Marcellus Williams) who have been wrongfully convicted as a way of silencing them and ensuring they can't file a wrongful imprisonment suit against the state.
Because the existence of a death penalty gives people who committed a single violent crime a motive to do more; if they're already going to die, why not take more people out with them?
Because the entire mindset of death being an acceptable punishment filters down into day-to-day life and encourages proliferation of distancing, dehumanizing language against people some don't dislike, which is part of the reason why so many teenagers have no problem saying "kill yourself" to others.
Because there is no accountability in the prison system for how those on death row are treated, and any abuse inflicted on these prisoners in their last days will never come to light.
Because it is wrong. If a private citizen can't kill another person, who can a private citizen employed by and acting on behalf of the government do it?
Because, it bears repeating, if your government has the power to kill you, they already have too much power.
There are zero good reasons to support the death penalty, and hundreds of good reasons not to.
Mustard, Franky, Beppe_digital flow team
SUBMISSION: Dirty Dressed 2014_Italy
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