Didn't read the article... but I think just having the death penalty on the bargaining table in terms of prosecution enables justice officials the ability to be taken seriously.
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
For years I always believed the death penalty detered crime. I wrote a very powerful and persuading essay on the death penalty when I was a Sr in high school for my gov't class. One of my teachers at the time was very liberal and he and I often got into very heated debates in class about all sorts of things. This was 1974 (I graduated in 1975) in So CA. My father was a deputy with the Los Angeles County Sheriff, had been my whole growing up (he retired after 27 yrs at age 48), and he taught us kids how to debate and to stand our ground. He was/is a great Constitutionalist and he made sure we knew the Constititution. Anyway, the liberal teacher graded my essay and gave me an A+ and said I persuaded him enough to think twice about his liberal stance.
Just to illustrate the kind of home I grew up in, we had a poster hanging in the family room that showed an officer in the fore ground reaching for his gun and a suspect in the background running from the officer. The caption in BIG BOLD letters read, "Save Court Costs". Ahh, gotta love the sense of humor of cops!
Just curious, do you buy the argument that because the Ten Commandments -- in our translation of the hebrew concept for murder -- states "Thou shalt not kill" that it therefore becomes unlawful and breaking of the commandment if the government establishs death penalty for those who do murder? Is the executioner then also guilty of murder?
What about when acting in self-defense or defending another that results in the death of the attacker? Has one broken the commandment?
If so, how do you explain how Moses was later ordained to the higher priesthood and became the Prophet of God? How do you explain how The Lord justified those who carried out the sentences for stoning or otherwise inflicting death upon those who committed greivance crimes according to mosaic law?
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Ah, since I posted this on the other forum, I'll bring this up here.
The MODERN scriptures state: in D&C 139:19 ...that he shall commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood, and if ye abide in my covenant, and commit no murder whereby to shed innocent blood...
Hence murder is shedding of INNOCENT blood, not shedding of blood in general.
And D&C 42:19 states And again, I say, thou shalt not kill; but he that killeth shall die.
So capital punishment, as defined as death for murderers, is advocated by modern prophets.
And in case someone brings up the 'well shouldn't only the prophet sentence someone to death?' argument:
D&C 134: 8 We believe that the commission of crime should be punished according to the nature of the offense; that murder, treason, robbery, theft, and the breach of the general peace, in all respects, should be punished according to their criminality and their tendency to evil among men, by the laws of that government in which the offense is committed; and for the public peace and tranquility all men should step forward and use their ability in bringing offenders against good laws to punishment.
