There was much said about how the victim's family felt about the execution of the potential murderer. Should this matter? Let's get away from the Davis execution for a bit. It seems like that if a person is put at ease by the execution of the murderer of their own family member, then it(the execution) is a bit more acceptable to some people. Why should this even enter into the discussion about whether the state killing someone is wrong or right? It seems like it is like this(for some people)--guy is executed-family is relieved = OK. Guy is executed-family still unhealed = not so OK. In the mean time--a guy is executed--DEAD!! Do you think that making victims' families feel better is a good justification to kill another human being?
1. I don't think it should because each case should be
decided on the same standards, and different families feel differently. It would be a matter of luck regarding how the family would feel - and even different family members of one murder victim could have different opinions.
4. No. If you have no family then what? Your life isn't important or your killer deserves less time?
Makes no sense. There are a lot of cases where some person is killed and there simply isn't a family to notify; no family members are available to testify at the hearing. So what? "Ah well forget it then, this guy wasn't important. You're lucky you didn't kill someone with a family."
How I personally feel about a loved one who was killed has no bearing on whether or not they were killed and that the killer deserves some punishment. Or what? If I cry a ton they get the death penalty, but if I only sob a bit they get 20 years?
I was not necessarily talking about using family feelings to determine if a person is to die or not---more like--does the killing of this person make it more "OK" in your(not just your) mind if the family is very much for it? Does it make it less of a horror? This is more a rhetorical question than one addressed to you, specifically.
But I still don't think the family's opinion makes yet another killing (on top of the one that already occurred) makes it okay. In fact I still maintain that their feelings on the execution are neither here nor there in terms of justifying the punishment. For me the only true justice is a fair trial with adequate appeals rights. What a family member thinks at any stage of that process isn't something I use to decide if what happened was okay or not. And I mean that I don't think the general public should be crediting the family's grief with "sanctioning" the execution.
I think the crime and evidence should speak for itself. But, then, I absolutely am opposed to the death penalty. To use victim's impact statements to decide life or death is just incredibly biased and unjust.
10. What if it was determined by one man to execute...
instead of the 9 judges last night. That would make it harder to execute a man. Having the family involved takes the guilt off of any one man executing someone.
I was thinking more of how "people" think of the killing of a convict. Not necessarily about how this affects any single decision. I suspect we think an execution is more "OK" when the family is for it. When they feel relieved by it. It makes it more palatable for our psyche.
the DP victimizes the relatives of the condemned... they loose a brother, a son, a daughter... and let's leave the matters of guilt or innocence...
And it also victimizes the family of the victim by giving them a false promise.
In this particular case Officer McPhail's mom started to get that sense after the execution. You can see it in her statement to the press. When she said that she felt the Troy Davis's family was suffering too... that is the beginning of that realization.
The state cannot act on emotions of the victim's family. People have been led to believe in something called "closure." It does not exist. Therefore the state cannot act on fallacies. If the family is seeking revenge, the state cannot assume revenge because the ordered death would be murder.
I do not know what the justification is for the death penalty. It would seem to me that any jury, commission or board could only require removal of that person from the public. Ordering death is ordering murder.
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