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re: Why I support the death penalty
James Brown — (archived)

Lee – It seems to me that we may be thinking of prison in the wrong terms.

The liberal among us think of it as a way to reform those with bad intent.
The conservative, such as you, think of it as a way to punish, for vengeance, an eye for an eye.

I think both camps are wrong.

We should be using prison simply as a way to keep ‘them from us’. That means life terms for most crimes against persons, civil punishment for crimes against property (heavy fines and restitution) and no punishment at all for crimes without victims (drugs, prostitution etc.)

I am hard over against the death penalty. It cheapens life and brutalizes our society.

Do a crimes against a person and wind up with very long sentence but in humane surroundings (remember we are not putting them away to punish) but no thought to education, religious training or anything to make them ‘better people’. Make their life comfortable with TV, books, socialization areas, clean cells – why not.

What do you think?

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