Late night (il)logic musings
It occurred to me tonight that although I'm firmly against the death penalty, I prefer the thought of criminals facing [what I would regard as] a flawed system that allows for the death penalty rather than being allowed to escape justice entirely. The thought sprang up thinking about Will Morva (the shooter near the VT campus last fall who killed a hospital guard and a sheriff's deputy) who will almost undoubtedly be executed. Specifically I thought back to seeing a post that someone who knew him made before he was captured hoping that he would escape because he would be killed otherwise.
I have to disagree with that and I'm not sure entirely why - what part of it is desire for communal revenge, self-interest, and justice. Blackstone famously stated, "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer," and it has been a key part of our justice system. Yet that can't scale properly - while there must be a tipping point where justice is so corrupt that nothing is better than it, at least with common criminal law, we've not come close to that point in this country.
And I would doubt that many death penalty opponents would consider aiding the escape of a hardened killer in order to prevent an execution. But more would consider aiding the escape of someone they thought was innocent. (Would I?)
Leaving me to wonder where exactly I and others draw the line of acceptability between allowing that chance of accidental execution of an innocent person vs. the public (and perhaps more importantly, my) safety.
I have to disagree with that and I'm not sure entirely why - what part of it is desire for communal revenge, self-interest, and justice. Blackstone famously stated, "It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer," and it has been a key part of our justice system. Yet that can't scale properly - while there must be a tipping point where justice is so corrupt that nothing is better than it, at least with common criminal law, we've not come close to that point in this country.
And I would doubt that many death penalty opponents would consider aiding the escape of a hardened killer in order to prevent an execution. But more would consider aiding the escape of someone they thought was innocent. (Would I?)
Leaving me to wonder where exactly I and others draw the line of acceptability between allowing that chance of accidental execution of an innocent person vs. the public (and perhaps more importantly, my) safety.