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I feel as if it's a different question with the pardons. You can pardon a guilty person. Pardons have nothing to do with innocence. Regardless of my feelings on

by bena 6y ago

I feel as if it's a different question with the pardons. You can pardon a guilty person. Pardons have nothing to do with innocence. Regardless of my feelings on whether or not I'd executed if an innocent man was executed, I definitely wouldn't want to be executed for a guilty person. So rather than being thought-provoking, it's almost thought-terminating. And I haven't touched on whether we should execute people in my post. So engaging on that front is also going to be a short road for us. Because in another post, I can get to "the death penalty" is wrong in a much more direct fashion. It's a game you're not allowed to make mistakes in. The minute you've executed an innocent person, you've failed.

dane-pgp 6y ago
> I definitely wouldn't want to be executed for a guilty person. It sounds like you're saying that you don't think that guilty people should ever be pardoned (even if those pardons didn't lead to the possibility of you having to be executed). That's probably not what you're saying, but I'm trying to understand the significance you are putting on the distinction between "innocent" and "pardoned". If there are times in which a guilty person should be pardoned and not have to serve a life sentence, then surely there should be times when a guilty person is pardoned and spared from serving a death sentence. Morally speaking I think it is irrelevant if the pardon comes before conviction (i.e. when they are still legally presumed innocent), or before sentencing, or before execution, or after execution. If you definitely wouldn't want to be executed for a guilty person, and you do believe in pardons (as they exist in the US legal system), then I think you shouldn't want to be executed for an innocent person either. I believe that previous sentence is logically consistent with your position though. You are saying that P does-not-imply Q and NOT P does-not-imply Q, and I'm saying Q implies P.

by bena 6y ago

dane-pgp 6y ago

> I definitely wouldn't want to be executed for a guilty person. It sounds like you're saying that you don't think that guilty people should ever be pardoned (even if those pardons didn't lead to the possibility of you having to be executed). That's probably not what you're saying, but I'm trying to understand the significance you are putting on the distinction between "innocent" and "pardoned". If there are times in which a guilty person should be pardoned and not have to serve a life sentence, then surely there should be times when a guilty person is pardoned and spared from serving a death sentence. Morally speaking I think it is irrelevant if the pardon comes before conviction (i.e. when they are still legally presumed innocent), or before sentencing, or before execution, or after execution. If you definitely wouldn't want to be executed for a guilty person, and you do believe in pardons (as they exist in the US legal system), then I think you shouldn't want to be executed for an innocent person either. I believe that previous sentence is logically consistent with your position though. You are saying that P does-not-imply Q and NOT P does-not-imply Q, and I'm saying Q implies P.