random 2am musings:
so we began a discussion in criminal law on the death penalty. professor cottrol asked "what are some reasons for keeping the death penalty?" we got the usual answers such as "deterrence" and "retribution", but no one gave the argument that is prevalent in Texas: "it's sanctioned by the bible." which i think is a load of crap. most people forget that the death penalty is sanctioned in the OLD testament under the abrahmic and mosaic covenants. people conveniently forget that these covenants were superseded by the NEW covenant, so unless you're jewish (and most texans aren't) that's an invalid argument...another thing that's not realized is that capital punishment was necessary in the ancient world. the tribal society was necessary for survival. you depended on your neighbor in those days, and anything that your neighbor did that threatened the stability of the tribe also was a threat to your very life. therefore capital punishment was indeed an deterrence and a necessary one and even the most trivial (by today's standards) infractions were potentially dangerous to society. we've evolved since then.
