Was This Warranted Or Necessary?

[jfrog]

Originally Posted by Ferd

ahh, I read the quote wrong. Thank yoiu for pionting it out... I must be a humnaitarian... at least in part.

desert certainly is part of the equasion. I would only state that if we all got what we deserved, it would be terrible for us all.

As it relates to Capital Punishment, if we rely only on a person deserving the death penalty, I think we fall short. the use of the DP should be about insuring the safty of society. certainly you dont put someone to death who is not deserving. however, desert becomes a brutal dictator when we rely on it alone.

CS Lewis was certainly a great mind than I, and I tread lightly here.... I still say we dont simply sentence because of what one deserves. That may be a starting point but it is not the end of it all.

I wanted to add that I think C.S. Lewis would agree with you on what I bolded because there definetely is a place for mercy in sentencing. He seemed to say as much in the article.

Also, if you think no one deserves the death penalty then that is one thing and not something I am ready to argue against. However, I don't think that is your belief. I think you believe that some people deserve the death penalty and that some do not. I think you believe that we should never give the death penalty to those that do not deserve it and that we should not always give the death penalty to those who do deserve it. I think we all agree on this.

I think the disconnect most people have is in thinking on the issue of there being unjustness in giving people less of a punishment than the one they deserve. In the strictest sense of the word such a thing is unjust. So in that sense the more mercy shown to a criminal the more unjust that act of mercy becomes.

However, our laws take this into account. We build into them a range of possible sentences. For example, the just desert of manslaughter might be something like 5 to 15 years imprisonment. Therefore, the just desert of committing manslaughter is anything from 5 to 15 years imprisonment. Mercy can be shown by giving a sentence near 5 years and harshness can be shown by giving a sentence near 15 years. This gives us a way to both give criminals what they deserve and a way to be merciful or harsh in doing it.