I found myself almost agreeing with Colin, because the people (Timothy McVeigh and Osama Bin Laden) so seem like people worthy of the death penalty. It's easy to start thinking those would certainly be instances in which the death penalty was truly warranted, but I always end up back on the anti-death penalty side.
As someone who believes that death is permanent and the absolute end of one's existence in all forms, I don't think death is a punishment. Sure, you're preventing this person from committing horrible crimes, but so is putting them in prison for the rest of their lives. You're also taking away any chance that them being alive could have ended up being useful to society in other ways.
My main takeaway from that interview was just how civil it was. I think a lot more could be accomplished if we didn't jump at each other's throats so quickly. That's one of my favorite things about The David Pakman Show.
I'm going off on a tangent here FOR SURE, but do you know how I first heard about TDPS? It was a little clip on Best of the Left that featured David saying "we even interview some of the crazies on the right, but don't worry... we don't agree with them" or something along those lines. I checked out some full episodes after hearing them on BOTL, and I've been here ever since. That was probably at least 5 years ago.
oh, and it's David Gale. :)
Because crimes are never committed in prison. Or is something only a crime when it is committed against someone with no history of criminal convictions?
And just how useful to society is someone that is in jail for the rest of their lives?