Is abolishing the death penalty going to be like the new gay marriage? meaning next new progressive wave of the future
in the 1800s it was slavery. Being against it went from fringe to politicized to dead done issue. Same with womens suffrage, ending jim crow laws, abortion rights, and now gay marriage.
Whats next after gay marriage? Is abolishing the death penalty going through that same stage soon? What about medical marijuana? Whats the next big progressive wave of the future after gay marriage is a done deal?
8 Answers to "Is abolishing the death penalty going to be like the new gay marriage? meaning next new progressive wave of the future"
-
Civilized countries have already done it
Like (2)
-
Wake up. This is old hat not new. The US is the only developed nation on earth that still executes people.
Like (1)
-
No. Abolishing the death penalty has happened in many states in the US and many countries around the world on grounds of human rights (by courts or governments). Gay marriage lags far behind abolishing the death penalty - it is far more recent and it has had less progress, therefore it is the newer social movement.
For example, in Canada the death penalty was abolished in 1976 as a result of a voluntary act of parliament and no one had been executed since 1962. But gay marriage wasn't recognized as legal until the 2000s, mostly as a result of bans on gay marriage being deemed unconstitutional. You can see how abolition of the death penalty was far less contentious than legalizing gay marriage and how gay marriage happened second, so abolishing the death penalty could not logically be the next gay marriage. There are other cases in which the death penalty was abolished, no longer practiced (though on the books) or scaled back, long before gay marriage became acceptable, and the former was less contentious.Like (1)
-
what do you see happening with the death penalty in the United States in the next 100 or so years? Do you think even Texas will have the death penalty by then? Is this issue going to be like the abolishment of slavery where the United States eventually catches up with the rest of the world?
Like (1)
-
Well, I know far less about US law than Canadian law, but with the decidedly right wing trend in the Western world, I think it will remain unless the Supreme Court strikes it down as unconstitutional (cruel and unusual punishment, I would think as it is an eternal punishment for a mortal deed) or the US loses its superpower status and other nations force it into compliance with international law (would lead to a reduction in the death penalty if not a ban, depending on how international law progresses). I think politicians in the US will not ban it because of public opinion in the South - there is too much support for it and the miscarriage of justice objection no longer has the weight it used to now that there is DNA and other evidence that can be used to establish guilt. Unfortunately politicians want votes and cannot be relied upon to do the moral thing and the moral thing is to outlaw the death penalty because while in theory it might be the correct punishment for some criminals (and I think you can make a cogent moral argument to this effect as well as an economic one, provided that the proper safeguards and specifications are laid out), in practice it is far too dangerous and permanent to be an option for sentencing. Humans are just too fallible. I certainly don't want to be entrusting juries with this responsibility...nor some judges.
Like (1)
-
I don't see anything wrong with ending Capital Punishment. It needs to be abolished as long as it's possible to wrongfully convict and sentence an innocent man to death.
I may be reading you wrong but it seems that you feel slavery was a good thing, jim crow laws were a good thing and women's suffrage was a bad idea. No matter what the status quo, sometimes policies ARE wrong and need to go.Like (1)
-
" Freedom cures most things" - Some dead guy.
Like (1)
-
helmet laws
Like (1)
-
I hope not.
Like (1)
Best Answer (Chosen By Asker):
Posted by SoulSeeker67 1 Mar 19th, 2013 at 10:12PM
I do believe bans on Gay Marriage should be done away with as that is a personal issue and should have nothing to do with the Government...... where as the death penalty is a state regulation and is ran by the people we put in charge of running our USA.
[ Reply ] | Like (1)