Death Penalty

[PhantomWolf]

There is sort of a major flaw in the OP, in fact the major premise is very flawed. The OP seems to have forgotten that the US does attempt to go after and capture terror suspects and then stick them in jail. Remember that little place called Gitmo?

Similarly, the orders on OBL were to capture if possible, and had he not resisted they would have taken him alive and to Gitmo to stand next to others already there. In the same way, if we assumed that the FBI goes after the mythical Dogg and he resisted in a way that they believed endangered them, they'd be as likely to put bullets in him too.

Missile strikes are only used against those that the US can't get alive, similar to how a Police sniper would take out a bank robber holding hostages.

Thus the premise that there is a very different standard between the way criminals are dealt with and terrorists is actually incorrect and renders the OP meaningless.

 

[Ryokan]

Practically all moral philosophies and laws regard this as an unintentional accident, without any culpable person. Unless you want to theorize that epileptics should not have the moral right to hold a driving license. If we so politically agree, then the person would be a law-breaker a bit like drunk drivers.

But their killing was the consequence of their illness, the same as when someone is declared criminally insane. Neither can be held responsible for their consequences, according to, as you say, the moral philosophies and laws of the modern world.

This is fine enough for me. Otherwise you would have to pardon all criminals from any punishment, because they all had a criminal state of mind when they committed the crime.

A criminal state of mind and being criminally insane are two very different things.

But you could just make it easy for the discussion and say, yes, mental illness will not absolve you of a crime and you should be put to death like anyone else.

 

[Noztradamus]

~~~
State executions devalue human life, and give an excuse to the criminally-minded to commit murder. They don't rationalise judicial killings by saying to themselves, "he had due process and deserved it"; they think "I want this person dead; the state kills people; there's no reason why I shouldn't."
....
There is certainly no evidence of any deterrent effect of the death penalty, which depends on projecting a way of thinking onto potential murderers: "I won't kill because I'm scared of being executed."

Just wow. Got Cognitive Dissonance?

 

[AlaskaBushPilot]

What about the case of strikes to "kill terrorists"?

It's horrible, for the reason you deploy let alone the millions we have killed in other countries over my lifetime: summary execution abroad makes summary execution easier at home. You just extend the war to the Fatherland.

If we can do that, why can't we execute (I.e. why can't we kill Dogg if we can kill some terrorists somewhere with a drone strike or missile or whatever)?

Since I object to the so-called War on Terror, you do not get to invoke war on terror tactics on that basis.

 

[JJM 777]

But you could just make it easy for the discussion and say, yes, mental illness will not absolve you of a crime and you should be put to death like anyone else.

So I say then.

 

[Cainkane1]

I can understand societys frustration with murderers. I know of a punk kid who shot a young girl to death for a joy ride in her van. She was a young mother with an infant baby. He was 15 when he committed this crime which is to young to execute.

He was caught the same day of the crime and he was given life with a chance for parole after 20 years but he did something in prison which caused him to lose his parole.

If you go to Georgia inmate locators and look up Randy Dobbs you will see his picture and he looks perfectly happy and contented to me. He's with his peers and apparently to him every day is a joy.