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On Capital Punishment (The Death Penalty):
first published- May 14, 1997
I've been meaning to talk to you about Capital Punishment. A few points. People who commit the crimes that get the death penalty either a) don't care about their life or death b) operate under the assumption that they won't get caught or c) don't think they'll die even if they get the death sentence. I think more fall in the first two categories than the last. Thus, I think the death penalty as a deterrent for especially hostile crimes is ineffective.
And as for the death penalty as an eradicator of scum humans: it saddens me to think that we as a society can't come to a better solution than to start killing our own citizens. I think that rehabilitation is a completely viable concept. People seem to think that certain criminals are irredeemable. Yet the focus of our corrections system has never been strongly focused on rehabilitation, but instead simple containment, detention, deprivation.
Speaking of deprivation...prisoners are stripped of their right to vote. What's up with that? We're supposed to be releasing these people as potential productive citizens; Yet, for the duration of their incarceration, they have had no official relation to the electoral process.
Maybe it's because we have judged them to have bad judgment, to not be able to properly distinguish what is good for the country.
Should prisoners, probatees, parolees, convicts, etc. be allowed to vote?
I say yes. Unless we exile them, they are U.S. citizens, and should have as many rights as their confined situation will allow.
Mentally handicapped people can vote, right? Ron Reagan can vote, right? Do they know what's right for the country?
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