You used to be able to see a list of all the last meals everyone had requested, but they took it down because it was a rather popular link and they decided it was too morbid.

I have been for the death penalty all my life, for one big and I believe unanswerable reason: it shows our willingness to fight evil all the way to the very end. Good should not be in the business of quitting the contest at some self-imposed point.

That, and there's the complete lack of criminal recidivism once they're dead. It may not be all that prissy nice, but it does control the damage evildoers can do. That there is no appeal beyond the grave, well, that's just the flip side of carrying justice this far. Kvetching about it too much does not become us.

And, hey, if we should kill a few innocents, in the name of Good, it's a great way to teach Evil that we mean business.

Teaching evildoers that we mean business, in terms their defective minds understand, is the entire and I believe overwhelming point.

By accidentally executing innocent people, what "lesson" do we "teach" Evil? Which side are we on, then?

Umm. I may be wrong, but I'd imagine there's a fairly low recidivism rate for people who serve a life sentence.

Also: Man walks free from jail, goes to a cornershop, pulls out a gun and shoots the shopkeeper, he is then convicted of murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection... result = 1 dead, innocent shopkeeper + 1 dead, guilty murderer.

But: Flawed police evidence and a poorly constructed defense by a defence lawyer, leads to the suspect ( a shopkeeper by trade) being wrongfully convicted of his wife's murder and sentenced to death by lethal injection.....result = 1 dead, innocent shopkeeper + 1 dead, innocent shopkeeper's wife.

How is the second situation a victory for justice?

It don't mean a thing
if it ain't got that Swing...

Interesting comments.

The chances of me taking back my country have just recently improved.

I'm not really a bad guy you know. And...I am sorry for all those bad things that I'm supposed to have done. :blush:

Will you let me out now?

no, you can stay in jail and rest there for the rest of your life. :)

:sniff: But I promise on a stack of Korans that I'll be super duper good and not kill anyone or spin a power drill through peoples' eye sockets.

How about now? :)

Not till you say you're sorry for putting live, conscious people in the wood chipper feet first, you naughty boy.

Nope...you can still stay there! Bad bad baaaaaad boy!!!

If you murder a murderer it just makes you one too and nothing else, same goes for sanctioning it.
It cannot be self-defense if they are strapped to a chair or table.
The point is to be better than the guilty.

I totally agree rkz.

I have, for as long as I can clearly recall, been of the mind that one should show her willingness to be better than evil all the way to the very end. Good should not be in the business of doing wrong. We should all be in the business of leading by example; of being just, not of justifying what we do.

Otherwise, what's the point? So what if you can say: "my ideas, my intentions, are better than yours?"