Maryland nears death penalty abolition

Dick Whitman · Feb 6, 2013

MisterCreosote said:

Dick Whitman said:

MisterCreosote said:

Dick Whitman said:

Capital punishment is a clear example of government impeding beyond what is necessary to achieve a social end, i.e. crime deterrence.
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True. Now, we can abolish it as soon as we get the power to indiscriminately kill U.S. citizens out of the executive branch's hands.
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Yeah, how about that, huh? Raise your hand if you thought, in 2008, that the Republican objection to the Obama administration would that it's too tough on terror.
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First, if anyone approves of what we found out yesterday, they are pure, unalduterated morons.

Second, I'm not a Republican.
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I don't approve of it and neither do I think you're a Republican. I'm just expressing my thought that I'm pretty certain that Republicans - i.e. the ones in Congress - did not think that this would be the terror battle they would be waging against this administration.

GeorgeFHayek · Feb 6, 2013

Dick Whitman said:

GeorgeFHayek said:

Dick Whitman said:

Capital punishment is a clear example of government impeding beyond what is necessary to achieve a social end, i.e. crime deterrence.
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Not so sure how clear it is, as the evidence is mixed. Further, not so sure that a workable argument against the death penalty can be fashioned out of the conservative ideal of limited government. If we stipulate that the death penalty is a deterrent, then the government's imposing it would be entirely consistent with the conservative ideal of government only entering those realms in which it has a natural obligation to do so.
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It's a deterrent, but not much of one, if at all, at the rate it's imposed right now. The problem is that if it's imposed with any greater frequency, then the number of mistakes go up, and that's an indefensible trade-off.
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Further, at the rate it's imposed right now, it's awfully capricious and arbitrary. That, to me, is nearly as troubling as the potential for mistakes.

Dick Whitman · Feb 6, 2013

GeorgeFHayek said:

Dick Whitman said:

GeorgeFHayek said:

Dick Whitman said:

Capital punishment is a clear example of government impeding beyond what is necessary to achieve a social end, i.e. crime deterrence.
Click to expand...

Not so sure how clear it is, as the evidence is mixed. Further, not so sure that a workable argument against the death penalty can be fashioned out of the conservative ideal of limited government. If we stipulate that the death penalty is a deterrent, then the government's imposing it would be entirely consistent with the conservative ideal of government only entering those realms in which it has a natural obligation to do so.
Click to expand...

It's a deterrent, but not much of one, if at all, at the rate it's imposed right now. The problem is that if it's imposed with any greater frequency, then the number of mistakes go up, and that's an indefensible trade-off.
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Further, at the rate it's imposed right now, it's awfully capricious and arbitrary. That, to me, is nearly as troubling as the potential for mistakes.
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For sure. The aggravating circumstances vary by state. And they can vary pretty widely. I think the death penalty is something that, even if one supports it in theory, it is somewhat difficult to imagine a scenario where it can be applied in practice in a way that's defensible.

Flying Headbutt · Feb 6, 2013

Maryland has already gotten far more restrictive on its use of the death penalty in recent years, but now as the governor's final term winds down, he begins to look ahead to 2016. He'd like something pretty progressive to hang his hat on, since even though he has super majorities in the house and senate, Andrew Cuomo a few states up keeps doing a better job of making him look like the political wimp he can so often be.

And that said, I agree with the direction the state is going here. But sheesh.

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Maryland nears death penalty abolition

Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

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Maryland nears death penalty abolition

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