Saturday, April 01, 2006

Death Penalty interview

The latest podcast over at Bluejersey.net is a short interview with Kirk Bloodsworth, the first person to be exonerated from death row due to DNA evidence. It's only about ten minutes; I listened to it yesterday in the car, and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.

A civilized society can't call itself a civilized society if it kills people. It makes 'us' no better than 'them.' The death penalty should be abolished.

If you're not convinced, go listen to the podcast. Well, go listen anyway.

3 comments:

ThomasMore said...

> A civilized society can't call itself a civilized society if it kills people. <
Our 'civilized society' murders thousands of unborn children every day in very gruesome fashion; the death penalty kills perhaps a few hundred criminals each year, with great attention given to minimize the 'pain and suffering.' Yet your posted message deals only with the death penalty. A curious omission.

Sharon GR said...

Not a curious ommision, not by a long shot.

Last I checked, the country as a whole doesn't have abortions. When a person is put to death in the name of the state, that means all of us, not just some phantom "government" doing it.

I have always found it sad that "pro-life" folks are sometimes only for lives of the unborn, not for the lives of all. I note that you feel it's ok to kill criminals- aren't all lives of the same value? I must ask, why do you get to judge whose life is worthy of saving and whose isn't? That's a curious ommision.

Also, did you listen to the podcast? This man wasn't a criminal, and the state almost killed him anyway. Clearly professionals with vast experience in determining guilt or innocence can still make a mistake. So, then, who gets to make these life-and-death decisions? There are no infallible people roaming this planet.

I stand by what I said; A civilized society can't call itself civilized if it kills people.

jay lassiter said...

A civilized society can't call itself civilized if it kills people