Do you agree with the death penalty under ANY circumstances in the United States? Do you agree with

[Donald Ian Rankin]

5. 5: "We might well kill you if we were sure we hadn't made a mistake, but we're not".

If the death penalty were reversible if it turned out we'd made a mistake, I think that on balance I'd support it.

But I'm not willing to risk taking the risk of executing innocents when there are perfectly good prisons.

For the most heinous crimes, the sentence should be

1) If we were certain we hadn't made a mistake, we might well execute you.
2) But sometimes we get it wrong, so we're going to imprison you for life, and give you the right to appeal every so often, especially if new evidence comes to light.
3) But unless it turns out that we were wrong about what you did, or you can convince an appeal court that we were wrong in sentencing you, then you do not deserve ever to come out of jail again, and will die there".


I think that opposition to the death penalty is a no-brainer. But if it could be administered infallibly by angels, or even if it were reversible, it would be a serious moral dilemma.


American jail conditions are another matter: they're inexcusable, and need to be improved. So 5, rather than 4, but failing that 4 is the least worst option.