[Angus]

Originally Posted by setanta

Nah, I'm sorry, I can't agree with sentencing people to death because there'll always be one innocent person executed for every 10 or so criminals and I can't accept that. Plus, I'm against the killing of another human being. Let the families of the victims pull the trigger and live with the conseqences.

But that would never happen because they themselves would then be prosecuted for murder. I don't know if you have ever seen the film Lady Vengeance but it dealt with the issue of justice meted out to a paedophile who had killed several children. The end scene where each family member stabbed the paedophile once was powerful, since none of them knew whose blow had actually killed him, and their complicity in the deed guaranteed them protection from discovery.

The issue of killing another human being is one I have pondered on a philosophical level in the past and I came to the conclusion that I could see myself doing so in self defence for example, and in a situation where a close family member such as my child were being threatened or harmed. But what we THINK we might do isn't necessarily what we ACTUALLY do and unless and until you are confronted with such a dilemma it is impossible to be sure you would go through with it. In any event something like a lethal injection would be my choice, quick and painless and far more humane than the treatment the murderer probably meted out to their victim.