Evaluating Damage

I am going to be deliberately oblique here, so as not to fall into a politicized rut.

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In a recent conversation about a specific crime, I was asked if I believed in the death penalty. I do not, as I don’t trust society with that level of power over a human life.    The other person thought that the death penalty was appropriate for Crime X, as there is no other way to be certain it will not happen again.

 

When I repeated my disagreement, I was asked how I WOULD punish Crime X.  I said that...