The Death Penalty is the Law

Clarification: The resolution is as follows: The Death penalty is justice Pro is to affirm the resolution. As con I am to negate the resolution. (I only clarify this as my opponent seems to think we each have a resolution. This is not so… also as my opponent is pro to a positive resolution, he has entire burden of proof.) Pro says “You also stated your opinion should have no bearing in the debate which is confusing to viewers and to me, since debate by definition is ": a discussion between people in which they express different opinions about something, in which opposing arguments are put forward." I have selected con to the resolution, meaning that regardless of my personal opinion my function is to negate the resolution. If my opponent wants more clarification, here is the tutorial from this website. http://www.debate.org... Rebuttal: Humane: “kind or gentle to people or animals.” (1) I maintain that “if there do exist ways to humanely kill, lethal injection is not one of them.” Aside from what I have already stated I will likely not respond to any other arguments on the process of execution unless pro can correlate it to the resolution. As such, the method of killing has nothing to do with justice. 1: Justice Pro says “I also believe answering these questions strictly to killing in general, and answering them to Punishment of the crime by execution is two totally different ideals.” Agreed, they are different and this debate is specifically dealing with death as a punishment. Pro says “We are in agreement those questions must be answered to be able to view how one perceives justice. To my understanding though your definition states which states justice can be chosen to be one of the three.” Yes. That is correct. Is capital punishment a demonstration of righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness? Righteousness: “morally good : following religious or moral laws”(2) equitableness : “just or fair : dealing fairly and equally with everyone”(3) Moral: “concerning or relating to what is right and wrong in human behavior”(4) It seems to me that righteousness and moral are synonymous. As such when I address them I will address them at the same time. Pro says “The Death Penalty is justice since it is acknowledged as a justified punishment in our court system of justice.” As I stated in round one, “Many laws in human history have been inhuman. Many laws have been struck down as unconstitutional. A law, simply being a law does not exclude the possibility of being inhuman or unconstitutional. “ The same is true with justice. Just being a law is not evidence of a law being just. 2: Law We live in a society that is based on Liberalism. (for a brief explanation of liberalism here is a link.(5)) We, as a society, attempt to maximize personal and collective liberty. As such liberty or freedom is largely the values on which our society bases ethics and law. John Locke said “the end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom.”(6) Likewise, application of law is to protect liberty not so much punish wrong doing. Pro asks “If punishment by execution is playing the role of God, who's to say imprisonment and taking one time in life away is also a role of God?” I never said punishment by execution is playing the role of God. Imprisonment serves as a way to protect the collective liberty of those in society. Law provides a way to remove those who would violate the “Harm Principle.”(7) Thus, imprisonment and fines serve to protect the liberty, this can be achieved through imprisonment, execution is hardly necessary, let alone moral. 3: Morals Our society basis our ethics largely on teleological theories. (consequential theories) That is to say that actions are deemed moral based on the consequences they bring. Thus, again, imprisoning someone for life has the same positive consequence as the death penalty without the violation of the “unalienable right to life.” Due to this unalienable right to life, taking someone’s life when there are other options would be immoral. 4: Conclusion Capital punishment is not necessary, and certainly not moral. Execution of law is to protect liberty not punish. Pro has yet to fill his burden of proof as such the resolution is negated. (1) http://www.merriam-webster.com... (2) http://www.merriam-webster.com... (3) http://www.merriam-webster.com... (4) http://www.merriam-webster.com... (5) http://www.infobarrel.com... (6) http://www.brainyquote.com... (7)http://en.wikipedia.org...