Quote:
Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm
Most people have a moral justification for their point of view though. Whether it tallies with anyone else's morals is another matter entirely. Morals are not absolute by any means.
And in some cases, people doing what they think is right is infinitely preferable to the law's take on things. Direct action can set precedents and change laws. And laws get made for very spurious reasons, including bowing to public pressure or politicians' prejudices irregardless of what expert evidence shows.
And on that note, I really am off to bed - I have to be up in just over 4 hours...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweetpea
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There's a huge cultural difference between the States and most Western European countries considering punishment. I doubt we'd ever come together in that respect (unless the States lay off the death penalty all together...)
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In recent years, the law has slid into exactly what Am was talking about. In many cases, it no longer punishes the guilty and protects the innocent. We've had our car's rear window smashed twice and a bedroom window broken and my daughter and I verbally abused any number of times by a Schizophrenic young man who's parents live in our neighborhood and we're not the only ones he has done this to. He's been arrested and taken to court several times in the last 5 years and every time, he has been given a slap on the wrist and released due to his medical condition. The law's view about our concerns is that we should be more sympathetic. I am, but that doesn't pay for fixing my broken windows. I know this is nowhere near as horrible as torturing, killing animals, but is indicative of what is happening in our judicial system.
I honestly don't think there is as big a cultural gap between the US and Western European countries as you think. We all want the same thing, punishment for the guilty (which is really the whole reason behind the justice system). I lived near a maximum security prison in Illinois where people like John Wayne Gacy were allowed to live and express themselves through art and have that art displayed in art shows and put up for sale, through years and years of appeals, all paid for with my tax dollars. He was never going to be rehabilitated. If he were released, he would have continued with his heinous acts. Why should he be allowed to live, even behind bars) when he had taken the lives of so many? I don't have an answer to capitol punishment, but I do know that if he had taken the life of someone I loved, I would have wanted him to die.