You are viewing a single comment's thread.

view the rest of the comments →

0
0

[–] Copernicus ago  (edited ago)

But you're thinking if the death penalty as some kind of deterrent. I don't see it that way. People will always commit crimes because people get irrational. Putting people in jail certainly doesn't work as a deterrent for other people, and neither would the death penalty. But as a punishment for a particular crime (I.e. intentional murder) it works beautifully.

But we should be tackling the drug problem from every angle. From the users right up to the drug lords.

0
0

[–] ArsCortica ago 

I think we're having a bit of miscommunication here - I don't support the death penalty in this case - as I laid out, it's pointless in that it only increases drug prices and hence the attractiveness of drug dealing for potential criminals.

0
0

[–] Copernicus ago 

No, I understood what you were saying, but I was challenging the notion that the death penalty is pointless as you said. The 'point' is to punish people who commit murder or other similar crimes. The potential consequence of increased drug sales (which will happen anyway) don't have anything to do with the punishment. The same could be said if you were to simply put drug dealers in jail instead of killing them. Still reduces the number of dealers on the street and potentially increases the demand.