As always, I don't have the answers. I just have a lot of questions.
I'm with MLT! For me this issue is just fraught with uncertainty. Speaking about the US only for a moment...
On the one hand, it disturbs me to think of a state in charge of executions. The bureacracy of this country is a muddled mess. I wouldn't trust some departments to properly prosecute or defend themselves out of a basket.
On the other, I know people who work in prisons, and some of them are shockingly nice. Cable television? Great food? Martha Stewart certainly wasn't suffering.
Then again, not all prisons are nice. Sometimes people in for minor crimes end up getting into worse crime thanks to the company.
However, there is the fact that we're paying for the whole process, and while I am not mercenary, part of me wants to take that money and use it to help starving children so they never end up in prison in the first place.
The argument about dying not being a really great punishment b/c it's over too quickly also appeals to me. I say forced labour in a coal mine would be a more fitting punishment for many crimes...
I guess part of it boils down to whether I believe prison really rehabilitates anyone. I have to say (and statistics back me up on this) that it's not an encouraging picture at the moment.
Then there's the fact that sexual predators are being let out every day due to lack of space and committing the crime all over again. What are we supposed to do?
So, someone should do something, but it obviously won't be me since I can't for the life of me come up with a solution, other than wiping us all off the face of the earth and starting again...
And I give props to defense attorneys. I was suspicious of them until I got to know one personally, and she's one of the most intelligent and honestly good people I have ever known. She gets a bad rap.
