--- In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>
>
> --- In [email protected], "hugheshugo"
> <richardhughes103@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Here's a thought, instead of judging rising consciousness purely
on
> > what the dow jones is doing, why not judge it on how many things
> like
> > this are going on.
> >
> > http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2182952,00.html
> >
> > Surely any vaguely civilized society would have banned this a
long
> > time ago.
>
> You mean banning capital punishment, or banning the
> problematic lethal-injection formula the Guardian
> story is reporting on? Because we *are* moving
> toward more humane forms of execution; and of course
> there is a major movement to ban it altogether that
> has been gaining strength.
>
> The Supreme Court decision concerning the current
> lethal injection formula has, in effect, imposed an
> unofficial moratorium on executions in the U.S.,
> ostensibly until a more humane formula can be
> developed. But even a temporary moratorium gives
> those working for abolition of capital punishment
> time to bring new cases.
>
> The work of organizations like the Innocence
> Project in freeing people who have been unjustly
> convicted has shown that our judicial system is
> sufficiently flawed that we risk executing the
> innocent, and particularly those--primarily
> minorities--who don't have the resources to obtain
> good legal representation.
>
> Given the virtually insuperable difficulty of
> *ensuring* guilt, the argument that the death
> penalty effectively discriminates against low-
> income people is very powerful constitutionally,
> and may be what ultimately results in banning
> capital punishment altogether.
>
Not only the death penalty, but the entire justice system
discriminates against the poor (and middle class). "Justice" is only
for the rich. Not a problem karmically, but it sure looks unfair in
the shorter term. :-)
