A federal appeals court in St. Louis ruled that it is legal for the state of Arknsas to force a death row inmate to take anti-psychotic drugs so that he is sane enough to be executed. huh?
NYTimes Article This really makes me think about my feelings regarding the death penalty in general. In principal I am not opposed to a death penalty and in some instances I definately support the idea. I have always felt that for a certain class of crimes death is an acceptable punishment. I feel that it does act as a deterant for one group of potential criminals, and for the group that it can’t deter, at least the taxpayer isn’t paying to house and feed them for the rest of the criminal’s life.
But this case is just an example of how messed up the system has gotten. In practice I think the death penalty system in the US has completely come apart and no longer works. I’m not sure what this does to my opinion on the issue.
So add your thoughts. Maybe you can change my opinion. (And that doesn’t happen all that often, so don’t let it pass you by.)