Re: Abortion

David V. wrote:

> Don Swayser wrote:
>
> > .... Contrary to your contention the deasth[sic] penalty is a
> > deterent[sic] to violence of the most extreme form, murder.
> > The death penalty wasn't applied, until recent years,
> > since the mid-seventies. The murder rate rose during
> > those years. Since the death penalty is again being
> > pronounced the murder rate has declined. It is now down
> > to pre-ban rates. Those are the facts....
>
>
> Those may be "facts" but it is a fallacy to assume that the
> removal of the death penalty caused a rise in the murder
> rate. Texas has been offing people for a long time and their
> death row is still packed. Those that claim that capital punishment is a 
> deterrent know nothing about, and aren't interested in, studying 
> criminal behavior. They just want revenge.

Then you believe that the rise and fall of the murder rate which
coincides with the abolition and reinstatement of the death penalty is a
coincidence? And you don't care about the murder killing a prison nurse.
Ok. Let's try this from another angle. This is a true story. I was in
the Army back in 1968. I had a 24 hour pass starting at six in the
morning. I went to a little town and met somebody. The town was about
4-5 miles from the base. I met somebody and went back to her place. She
lived about another 3 miles further away. It was VERY cold and windy and
was snowing hard. We got very blasted and eventually drifted off to
sleep. I awoke about 3:30 in the morning. I awoke her and told her I
needed to get back to base. She was still way too screwed up to drive
and we both knew it. I called three different taxi services and each one
said the same thing, the roads were too bad. I would have to walk. The
snow was about a four and a half deep and was the wet, clinging snow
that builds up on your boots. I started walking and it was very slow and
hard going. There was a 24 hr. convenience store open about half a mile
from the town and there was a customers car in the parking lot. The
engine was running. Why not, who would expect someone to be out that
late under those conditions. God, that car looked tempting. All I had to
do was walk through the parking lot, get in and go. What stopped me?
Because it was wrong? Think that and you're out of your skull. I simply
knew that if I slid off the road and got stuck I would probably get
caught, arrested and convicted. Then I'd face a court martial and serve
more time in the stockade. It was fear of retribution plain and simple.

Now, what does this have to do with the death penalty? When children are 
growing up and misbehave some form of punishment to deter them from 
repeating the error. Punishment IS a deterrent. Time spent in prison for 
breaking laws is a deterrent. If it weren't there would be no reason for 
prisons. Then how can the death penalty NOT be a deterrent? You have to 
accept that or open the prison gates. I'll grant that it isn't a 
deterrent for someone in an emotional rage. But those people don't get 
the death penalty. It is more often meted out as a punishment for cold 
blooded murder. To those people it most certainly is a deterrent and to 
maintain otherwise, especially in the face of other evidence, such as 
the co-incidence mentioned earlier, seems a defiance of logic.

--
If you want to be free, there is but one way; it is to guarantee an
equally full measure of liberty to all your neighbors. There is no other.
Carl Schurz (1829-1906)