A Question as we move deeper into the 21st Century....

[WCGreen]

Is it time our society to finally view criminal activity as a matter of justice instead of, as it is in so many cases, seeking revenge?

If we can get passed this point, I think we can make a giant step forward toward a moral based society that deals equally with all kind criminal behavior.

Think how we treat the situation when murder is the crime. What I want to focus on now is the questions asked after the verdict has been adjudicated.

There is always the feeling that somehow justice is served if the death penalty is handed down.

You can gussy it up anyway you want but the eye for an eye path is seeking revenge. Now that we have a judiciary that is set aside from the individuals involved, which should not even be a consideration.

The bottom line is that the person has been killed and that no matter what we do to the perpetrator, that murdered person is not coming back.

Then again, I like the idea that the punishment must fit the crime.

Nevertheless, is the state killing to satisfy a personal, and I would add, as well as a societal revenge justified?

I am sure there will be people who will not be satisfied unless a life is traded for a life. And often times I feel that way as well. It's instinctive I guess.

I just want to put forth this idea of vengeful justice versus indifferent or rather impartial punishment.

[leveymg]

1. I think its just becoming part of the post-services, post-industrial zero-jobs economy.

Anyone who doesn't have an increasingly rare job with a global bank or multinational will simply be turned over to Corrections Corporation of America for long-term storage and disposal for profit.

The last growth industry in this country.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Gandhi said: An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind...

But I think that vengeance is hard-wired into us.

Perhaps the law tries to be impartial, but it's difficult for us humans to implement that.

I don't approve of putting people to death for even heinous crimes, but I have to say that I do feel differently when the crime has been particularly awful.

[tularetom]

4. Exactly my reaction

Common sense tells me that the death penalty makes no sense economically or socially, yet I can't help feeling some satisfaction when the perpetrator of a crime involving a young child gets fried.

[BrendaBrick]

3. This is a good post and poses something rather profound as to TRY and understand just WHY

people DO what they do?

I would say that beyond the immediate urge for revenge lies mostly...(at its very essence) layers and layers of confusion above all - Why oh why would someone want to kill another?

Surely they were not born that way....were they? Call me naive, but unless something is really missing from the getgo in a child, some kind of brain mis-function or screwy wiring or something...something, SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY got really, really SCREWED UP!

I suppose this is nothing new in 2012. Rape, pillage, murder etc throughout time...throughout the centuries. shrug.

This idea of vengeful justice versus indifferent or rather impartial punishment as you have posted assumes...what? That life is so sacred to begin with?

Pardon me for being the pessimistic misanthrope. Honestly, I believe that if someone were to come up to me nowadays and explain all of the advantages of being born to begin with, I'm afraid that I would have to honestly answer: Life? Nah. I wouldn't personally recommend it to begin with.

(Sorry if this is a downer post...just being brutally honest.)

[TreasonousBastard]

5. Justice you say? Plato probably wasn't the first to think about it...

maybe just the first to write some thoughts down. Concepts of justice are central to most religions and ethical systems.

The death penalty? We Quakers gave it up hundreds of years ago, along with other forms of vengeance, and have a view of "justice" that we think much closer to Christ's.

Closure? Quite a few researchers have found that the survivors of the victims do not always feel closure at an execution. It's rather rare, in fact, and often leaves people with something on the order of an empty hole where they thought they would feel closure.

It's simply a vestige of a barbarian past.

[BrendaBrick]

6. It's simply a vestige of a barbarian past.

Speaks volumes.

[elehhhhna]

7. Why on earth do we give our "government" the authority to kill us?

that'smy question.