Quote:
Originally Posted by DaiNasty
Pointless?
That particular deranged individual is never going to offend again. I'd say that makes the world a better place.
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Correct, he's not. But a policy of locking him up forever would achieve the same thing, with the added benefit of the next guy sent down for a vile crime - except this time, wrongly - would retain the possibility of appeal and eventual release. You can't be released from the grave, after all.
We have this same basic discussion every time a death penalty thread starts up on here. Capital punishment achieves nothing more than satisfying a short-term lust for vengeance at the inevitable expense of innocent people being wrongly deprived of their lives in the long term.
And it allows the self-righteous and self-loathing alike to keep telling themselves there are plenty of people in the world who are nastier than they.