[ExI] free-will, determinism, crime and punishment

[Lee Corbin]

Gordon writes

> As I mentioned, it is very controversial whether capital punishment  
> deters homicide better than prison sentences. In fact there is evidence to  
> support the hypothesis that it has the opposite effect.

I'm getting more and more skeptical of the results many researchers
achieve that just happens to satisfy a pre-existing social agenda. So
I suppose that you find implausible the old scene in the movies where
one gangster says to the other, "Don't kill him!  We could fry!"

(which, FWIW, is one good reason to bring back "The Chair")

Our criminal justice system evolved from a much more
ruthless system of punishment in an era when defendents
were grateful for any protection at all. I believe that many
criminals today, on the other hand, do not fear the
consequences of being caught nearly as much as they
should; and you and I both believe in the power of
deterrence.

> Some researchers theorize that capital punishment has a
> 'brutalization' effect on society in those states in which it
> is legal,

Hogwash, I suspect.

> an effect which could encourage more homicide than
> otherwise by cheapening the perceived value of human life.  
> And unlike any other kinds of punishment, there can of
> course be no hope of rehabilitating a criminal by killing him.

In addition to the other arguments people have been assailing
you with, e.g. BillK's list, I will add the way that prisons have
turned into schools for crime. Often crimes on the outside are
even orchestrated from within.  It's an inane way to run prisons,
and any bright twelve year old could design a better one.

Lee