Quote:
Originally Posted by sputnik
the US is the only western country that has the death penalty. and i think japan is the only other developed country that has it.
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That isn't true. The US is the only major Western power that still has it, but we're not the only western or "developed" country that has it.
Take a look at this map, including all these islands in the Caribbean that still have it; many are former/current British colonial possessions:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._World_Map.png
Looking at this map it appears that Belarus is the only European nation still using the DP. Also, China practices the DP and it's a leap to say that China is
not a developed country.
As for EU nations, Brussels may forbid the DP but that does not mean that there is not considerable public support for it in many EU nations including France and the United Kingdom. I saw polls in the UK indicating that around half of the population would like to see the DP brought back. In France the most I ever saw was about 1/3, but that's still an extrapolation of 20 million French citizens supporting capital punishment.
I myself do not support the DP. I don't think judicial executions are necessarily immoral, but in practice it's too easy to execute an innocent person. Even in the US, where we have an extremely solid justice system (even with its flaws), it's possible to execute innocent people. It does not have its intended impact because executions are sterile and held out of public view. How can putting someone to sleep behind closed doors possibly deter crime? Breaking someone on the wheel and drawing and quartering them in public might, but that'll never happen here. I think it's time to do away with it, but I do not think we're savages for having it.