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There's no such thing as a perfect justice system, mistakes will be made. If you have a strict system then you WILL jail innocent people, if you have a lax system then you will let guilty go free. The key is finding the balance between putting as many as the baddies away as possible and as few of the good guys. I always feel bad for anyone innocent who's jailed, and in many cases they have recourse when they're cleared, but I think the negative ramifications of trying to create a system where no innocent ever goes to jail would be dire indeed.
Now the death penalty is subject to the same rules, only it's a bit more permanent. Have innocent people been executed? No doubt... but if the deterrance value saves lives then perhaps it's worth it. The problem I've got with the death penalty is that I doubt it's effectiveness. I've never seen a decent study on the efficacy of the death penalty as a deterrance to violent crime. (not that I've looked too hard)
[ 05-14-2004, 10:45 AM: Message edited by: Thoran ]
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