this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2026
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My middle ground is I believe some crimes deserve the death penalty, but I believe the state should never have the right to execute its citizens.
Outsource their executions to El Salvador.
"Oh no, you misunderstood. We said we wouldn't execute you."
Maybe bring back social ostracism? The person loses all rights and privileges. Meaning even killing them will not be prosecuted.
My issues with the state executing people is two fold. The first being if you allow the state to have that right it can change the laws and begin executing people for less severe offenses. The second and more crucial, is there are always mistakes made and you should not put an innocent person to death. Vigilant killings or those outside the system only make that worse. Truthfully you've described a very cruel punishment when life in prison works fine
I'd add a third issue. In a democracy, your social systems are the agency of the people as a whole. We collectively bear responsibility for those systems. By condoning the death penalty we embrace cold blooded killing for revenge, when it is done as a collective. Those in favour of the death penalty are thinking about the perpetrator and why we want to hurt that person, and not about the mental health of our society and why we should not be debasing ourselves. When I've discussed these matters with USAns, this issue is usually ignored or dismissed, and I think that says a lot about the condition of that society.