Death penalty and assisted suicide: the right to die.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. I am absolutely against the death penalty but pretty much support the right to die...

I have a huge problem with society deciding you have no right to live, for whatever reason. Society does have the obligation to protect itself from predation, but killing its predators is revenge, not justice.

While I think the right to die is a fundamental right, it is actually more terrifying to society than the occasional homicide. We already have more than enough suicides and attempts than we can adequately deal with-- I personally know of several, only one of which could be attributed to some clinical problem. Can you imagine how many there could be if it became acceptable?

Everyone goes through down times and gets depressed at times. How do we separate passing thoughts of ending it all from the rational decision that one's death is an appropriate action?