Capital Punishment

[migrendel]

Well, I have been said to take contradictory stands. But I feel that capital punishment deprives a person of fundamental social liberty, just as denying them reproductive rights does. The institution of capital punishment, while in itself indicative of archaism that one sees in lashing and the pillory, has failed society in manifold ways. The system which treats its affluent and established citizens to a comparatively bearable punishment metes out inhumane justice to its poor and minority members. This to me reveals a dialectic which inquires as to social position and then punishes, rather than seeking justice. For those reasons, I can see no justification for perpetuating this injustice. We cannot expect to fine tune the machinery of death and receive fair results.

[migrendel]

What bothers me is, despite our division over capital punishment, there seems to be a consensus that life in prison should be a parade of horribiles. Rather than recognizing the necessity of prisons as an instrument of rehabilitation, we seek to degrade them, demean their dignity, oppress them, and harm them, until, yes, they will lash out against us. I am aghast that anyone would be willing to treat other humans with such stark inhumanity, and find their existence valueless. They may have committed a crime, but society does not demonstrate its superiority to a person and establish its right to judge by similar barbarism.

[migrendel]

While I think that executing people is just the capstone of the inhumanity, we need to reform the prison system so that prisoners may have more access to the outside world, better access to educational, legal, and vocational services, and have their mental, physical and sexual health attended to.