Comments on Perry: "Is Capital Punishment 'Cruel and Unusual'?"TypePad2011-09-28T15:34:53ZRick Garnetthttps://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/tag:typepad.com,2003:https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2011/09/perry-is-capital-punishment-cruel-and-unusual/comments/atom.xml/Joel Clarke Gibbons commented on 'Perry: "Is Capital Punishment 'Cruel and Unusual'?"'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d834515a9a69e2015435c84135970c2011-09-29T19:05:36Z2011-09-29T19:05:36ZJoel Clarke Gibbonshttp://www.logisticresearch.comI thought it was pretty well established that "unusual" is not the same as "rare." Unusual has always been understood...<p>I thought it was pretty well established that "unusual" is not the same as "rare." Unusual has always been understood to mean "unique; devised for a specific case or a very narrow class of cases." Drawing and quartering, for instance, is an unusual punishment, as would any kind of punishment tantamount to torturing the convict to death.</p>
<p>The confusion of unusualness with rarity would leave some deep paradoxes, like the following. If for instance it happened that in a given month no one was condemned to a particular punishment, would it automatically become forbidden thereafter? <br />
</p>malcolm coate commented on 'Perry: "Is Capital Punishment 'Cruel and Unusual'?"'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d834515a9a69e2015391ef959a970b2011-09-28T22:09:16Z2011-09-28T22:09:16Zmalcolm coateAs a social scientist, I might suggest that you should be careful when concluding a law (ban on death penalty)...<p>As a social scientist, I might suggest that you should be careful when concluding a law (ban on death penalty) is popular just because it is on the books. Possibly a political system is designed to allow the intense preferences of a minority to prevail. Or maybe the political system allows only the elite to run for office and the elite oppose the death penalty. For example, best I can tell, the United Kingdom does not run primaries, instead the parties (the elite) pick the candidates. Of course, polling generates another set of problems, often related to how the question is asked. Finally, nations differ on the portfolio of crimes committed, so europeans who move to America may end up supporting the death penalty. These comments are obviously, not relevant to normative arguments about the death penalty, just positive statements on the world-wide popularity of the death penalty. They do seem to suggest that the foreign laws should be irrelevant to domestic law. </p>malcolm coate commented on 'Perry: "Is Capital Punishment 'Cruel and Unusual'?"'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d834515a9a69e2014e8be35087970d2011-09-28T22:09:16Z2011-09-28T22:09:16Zmalcolm coateAs a social scientist, I might suggest that you should be careful when concluding a law (ban on death penalty)...<p>As a social scientist, I might suggest that you should be careful when concluding a law (ban on death penalty) is popular just because it is on the books. Possibly a political system is designed to allow the intense preferences of a minority to prevail. Or maybe the political system allows only the elite to run for office and the elite oppose the death penalty. For example, best I can tell, the United Kingdom does not run primaries, instead the parties (the elite) pick the candidates. Of course, polling generates another set of problems, often related to how the question is asked. Finally, nations differ on the portfolio of crimes committed, so europeans who move to America may end up supporting the death penalty. These comments are obviously, not relevant to normative arguments about the death penalty, just positive statements on the world-wide popularity of the death penalty. They do seem to suggest that the foreign laws should be irrelevant to domestic law. </p>Thales commented on 'Perry: "Is Capital Punishment 'Cruel and Unusual'?"'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d834515a9a69e2015391ef3c8f970b2011-09-28T20:46:48Z2011-09-28T20:46:48ZThalesI'm against the death penalty and I want to see it abolished, but I really dislike the "it's unconstitutional" argument....<p>I'm against the death penalty and I want to see it abolished, but I really dislike the "it's unconstitutional" argument. It is undoubtedly clear that when the law was written, the death penalty did not fall under the meaning of the words "cruel and unusual." To say that the death penalty is now today "cruel and unusual," is to say that the understanding of the law's words can change over time and due to the beliefs and practices of other people. But that method of legal interpretation has no grounding and gives the law no stability. It reminds me of the famous "A Man For All Seasons" quote from More to Roper about giving the Devil the benefit of the law, for our own safety's sake. I don't want us to have the ability to so easily interpret the law's meaning differently from the law's original understanding, because we might lose the protection of the law in a future society that has changed and understands the law's language in another different manner.</p>
<p>If we don't like what a flawed law says, let's not interpret the language of the law to mean something different than what the language meant when the law was made. Instead, **let's change the law.**</p>Mike commented on 'Perry: "Is Capital Punishment 'Cruel and Unusual'?"'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d834515a9a69e2014e8be19d11970d2011-09-28T15:57:02Z2011-09-28T15:57:02ZMike"Perry: 'Is Capital Punishment 'Cruel and Unusual'?' " I thought the (obvious?) answer would be, "No: It's Ultimate Justice!"<p>"Perry: 'Is Capital Punishment 'Cruel and Unusual'?' "</p>
<p>I thought the (obvious?) answer would be, "No: It's Ultimate Justice!"</p>