Does society owe the Chicago Four a chance at rehabilitation or was their crime of kidnapping and torture so heinous as to deserve the death penalty?
C.S. Lewis wrote: The Humanitarian theory removes from Punishment the concept of Desert. But the concept of Desert is the only connecting link between punishment and justice.
His point (as I understand it) is that the criminal deserves punishment due to having committed a crime. The humanitarian theory is that the criminal’s punishment is based on deterrence and/or rehabilitation, in other words – healing.
The scales of justice are out of balance until we bring back the death penalty in all 57 states plus one more to go, and a swift and sure application of that punishment.
Genesis 4:10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.”
- Do you favor humanitarian theory or CSL’s concept of desert?
2. Bring back the swift application of the death penalty?
3. In crimes where an innocent life was not taken is the death penalty ever justified?
The judge let one of the females go scot free. The judge said something to the tune of, “You’d just get worse in prison so I’m letting you off.” WTF!
ST UnWoked & UnVaxxed! 
Try this thought experiment: if four white people kidnapped and tortured a black person who was mentally disabled, what would happen? Would anyone object to the death penalty in that case?
This is the thing: in order to support the death penalty, we have to have faith in the justice system, and I don’t anymore. The cop in Atlanta who shot the guy who took his taser has now been brought up on federal murder charges and could be facing the death penalty. The usual leftist opponents of the death penalty are nowhere to be found: they want his head on a plate. This is a far blurrier case than what happened in Minnesota, but this guy if facing far worse consequences than the cop who sat on George Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes.
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I’ll chime in when I don’t have to deal with this touch keyboard. Interesting that you reference our pal Jack Lewis. Great and timely question!
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“I’ll chime in when I don’t have to deal with this touch keyboard. Interesting that you reference our pal Jack Lewis. Great and timely question!”
Having read the 1954 article, by CSL, I’ve gotta say: I support “the theory of Desert”, because it’s focused on the *proportionality* of punishment; the possibility of reform d/t incarceration (see Chuck Colson, and the original meaning of “penitentiary”.) and the opportunity for mercy to be exercised. His description – and inherent criticism – of the Humanitarian theory is right on target for this recovering psychologist. Lewis specifically ‘sets aside’ the question of the death penalty.
Prompt application of capital punishment could restore its deterrent effect.
In situations where life is not directly taken – but is, perhaps, irreparably-damaged or altered with brutal force (where the committing individual has abdicated their humanity) – yes, the death penalty could be justified.
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Gold star comment, D’Nanda.
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Why, thank you!
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Okay, Black people effing hate us. Did you see that video of the young guy just gratuitously punching an old woman, toddling along with a walker, in the head? Just a random act of violent hatred. (I’ll leave out the equally horrifying revelation that apparently, when we are in public now, we are all, always, being filmed..)
And they’ve been taught it., “carefully taught”, as the old song has it. No Black person alive today, nor their parents, was ever a slave. Most white People in US Today are descended from European immigrants who arrived after the Civil War. None of that matters. They hate us, and a lot of useful idiot whites hate THEMSELVES!
Oh, let these 4 murderous bigots go. May’s well: Kill ‘em, and a dozen take their place. They and their allies have turned upon the beautiful, bountiful mother who bore them. I heard yesterday that a statue of Thomas Jefferson was decapitated.
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“Did you see that video of the young guy just gratuitously punching an old woman, toddling along with a walker, in the head?”
I did not. Was it chocolate on vanilla? It crushes my soul to hear these things are happening ‘in broad daylight’ now. The frequency of these heinous assaults is too high. I fear the center cannot hold for much longer.
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A young skinny brightly dressed black guy passes a little old white woman pushing a walker. His left arm shoots out, casually, and punches her in the head. She falls against a fire hydrant. He doesn’t slow his pace, does look back, once, I guess to make sure she’s on the ground.
Of course, since we’re now all, always , under surveillance, the incident was captured on video.
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We need to bring back the concept of hard time for the more feral in our midst.
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I saw that on Tucker Carlson: Heinous, callous; you’re right, ST: feral.
Hyp, I think elite white folk in Congress and Corporate America; especially on the NASDAQ – and elite black folk who’re their allies in keeping their brothers and sisters down – enjoy what they reap from Uncle Sugar. They morph class/political affiliation differences/coastal vs. heartland divide, into *racial* hatred. It’s so much broader than race: Don’t fall prey to the narrative, I beg you.
There’s a soul-sickness that’s been incubating for decades in this country; we’re seeing yet another outbreak now:
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” [Second] Chronicles 7:14, KJV]
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Nanda, this is more about generations of inner-city blacks being raised on the fact that they are where they are because of the white man keeping them down through some invisible racism that only blacks can see.
Fix that!
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