| > Death penalty is supported because we think it sends the person to eternal torment in hell, not because we think it purifies them. It is also supported because it can be used as a self-defence mechanism. We take it for granted that when we lock up 'really' dangerous people they will be safely away from society, but that kind of infrastructure is a fairly recent phenomena in human history. Prison breaks/escapes still happen: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_prison_escapes#2022_–_... Not only from a building-prisoners perspective, but also from an excess-resources point of view: through most of human history, suggesting using society's surplus—which probably wasn't there—to feed someone 'evil' while everyone else had to work away would have seemed very unfair. If a single individual has the right to self-defence against an attacker, and a ("small") group of individuals have the same right (e.g., a bunch of folks worshipping in a temple, mosque, church), then wouldn't a "large" group of individuals (e.g., society) have a right to protect themselves from an attacker? With regards to "hell": someone, while waiting on death row, many repent of their actions and try to find redemption, but still be executed from a legal point of view: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Man_Walking_(book) * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Man_Walking_(film) |