• Nougat
    link
    fedilink
    7726 days ago

    I used to think capital punishment only accomplished one thing: revenge. And I don’t believe the state should be in the revenge business.

    I was wrong.

    Capital punishment also accomplishes the state sending the message to everyone: We can kill you if we want to. It’s not a deterrent to any crime; it’s a deterrent to standing against the state for any reason.

    • Flying Squid
      link
      fedilink
      1326 days ago

      I have said it to people who are in favor of capital punishment over and over again that nothing good comes out of giving a state the power of life and death over its citizens.

    • @Chef@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      426 days ago

      Capital punishment will always be more of a tool to control behavior than a tool to regulate public justice.

      A death penalty serves the ultimate purpose of demonstrating that the state can use its power (executive, legislative, and judicial) to order a citizen killed.

      The power of the state to kill someone can be wielded arbitrarily based upon laws enacted (legislative), sentences ordered (judicial), and pardons withheld (executive).

      Expect more laws and more capital sentences to curb more behaviors that the state wishes to curtail. When they run out of behaviors, expect capital punishment for crimes of belief, thought, and group affiliation for that is the natural progression of authoritarianism, despotism, and tyranny.