It seems that Indonesia is getting ready to execute some drug dealers by firing squad again..
Why is the west getting angry about this? The people to be executed presumably knew what to expect before smuggling drugs into Indonesia. Why should we care enough to protest?
Is it about the fact that they are being executed or about the method of execution?
Is death by firing squad any better or worse than other forms of execution?
Mods: I put this in GD as discussion about the death penalty tends to provoke a strong response. Please move if you feel appropriate.
Some people in the west, just as some people in the east, are disturbed that execution is the penalty for any crime.
Your presumption is the cost of another’s life? That doesn’t sound just to me. Nor does execution seem just to a number of people in both the east and the west.
Because a number of us believe that decent people should protest egregious injustice. Again: there are people in both the east and west who consider execution for any crime to be unjust.
For me, it’s the fact that the person’s going to be executed.
Evidently it is as it’s been banned or retired in a number of jurisdictions that still execute people.
How do we decide what is morally wrong? We in the UK no longer have the death penalty, but a number of US states still do.
What standard do we follow (and I’m not asking to be difficult, just to gain understanding)? Do we assume that all judicial killing is immoral? If so how does that square with various religious books/edicts that justify such actions?
I have seen arguments in the past that state that families of murdered people want some form of judicial revenge above and beyond life in prison (will try to find a cite). Is it the responsibility of the state to carry out these wishes or should they always assume a right to life?
I am personally against the death penalty, but every country has a tariff you have to pay when breaking their laws so you should be aware of the price you will have to pay when you break their laws. I live in an area that used to have a heavy drug problem and have seen the misery and deaths caused by drugs so I am not surprised when some countries treat drugs as seriously as murder. When you offer people drugs you know that you are either contributing to their downfall or death, How could anyone complain about the morality of their execution when their own lack of morality contributes to the misery or death of an other all in the name of making a fast buck
Each individual country or state can decide for themselves what punishments they deem just. Is it more humane to cage a person for life (especially in some of those foreign hellholes)? I’d take death rather than that any day.
We vote on it directly, or we elect people to make that call on our behalf.
Some people decide judicial killing is moral, some decide it isn’t. There is no requirement for consensus. I couldn’t care less how our contemporary society squares with any particular religion. Shit, look at Christianity – can we square some things with both the Old and New Testaments?
The state is punishing crimes against society, not against this family or that family. It is certainly not the state’s responsibility to carry out the wishes of the victims’ families.
Judging by the makeup of the batch of people that were executed (and protested over) last year, you believe that Brazilians, Nigerians and Indonesians are “westerners” in the manner in which the term is usually used? (And Filipinos, if you count the woman who has been so far spared so she can testify at someone else’s trial, but remains on death row)
Murder is bad because it deprives a person of the ability to live their life and removes them from their loved ones.
Prison has the same qualities, but the individual has to experience that loss.
Personally, I’m pro-death penalty for much the same reason as I approve of laws which mandate quick, precise killing of livestock for consumption. If you’re going to do the deed, get it over with. Don’t torture the animal first.
Anti-death penalty is a fig leaf that allows one to pretend like they’re doing good, by hiding the truth of the situation.