>You are going to have type
>1 and type 2 errors

>type 1 - guilty go free
>
>type 2 - innocent are punished.

What do you think of Thurgood Marshall's precedent that it's better to let 100 guilty men go free then punish one innocent?

I actually don't think it's that relevant to this discussion, but you put forth these two "types" and I wondered if you had opinions on that.

>So you would not punish james
>byrd's killers with the death
>penalty? Sorry, them
>boys deserve to die.

No, they just never deserve to return to our society. Like some other people here, I don't believe anyone "deserves to die." It seems to me that any person's participation in society is contingent on the assumption that no one "deserves" death.
And, I (others too, I'm sure) resent your assertion that most people who oppose the death penalty haven't been victims of crime that serious. Not to say that it hasn't changed people's minds, but in my experience it can just as easily give people a keener sense of the preciousness of life.

Just a thought.

>You wouldn't execute a chronic
>wife abuser who ultimately murdered
>his wife? I know
>I would in a heartbeat.

Well, lots of people wouldn't (including me -- mainly because I don't understand what death would accomplish). Right now about 49% wouldn't do it either. 51% would. The way we do things in this country, that means that for now you can.

>Nothing is
>as idealistic as you cats
>are making it out to
>be.

I'm sure that's true. But is it the idealism of the sentiment "anyone can be reformed" that you're reacting to? If so, I agree with you. Some people can't be re-integrated into society. However, if the idealism you're referring to is the sentiment that "every person's life is valuable," I don't see that as particularly idealistic. I see it as a universal truth, and pretty much at the heart of human consciousness. Not something to be cynical or jaded about.


____________________________
"All I want is some truth,
just gimme some truth."