Crime and Punishment in Canada

Everyday as I read the paper I come across articles about crime in Canada that literally make me wonder if as a society we are entitled to refer to ourselves as civilized. All manner of crime and abuse are perpetrated on the innocent and our ever evolving legal system at times appears to be more concerned about the legal rights and treatment of those that commit the crime than about the the actual victims. At times our legal system and particularly our courts and prison system act as revolving doors. Even worse is that while in prison many criminals are provided with an education that would rival that which many universities provide, unfortunately they receive it from their peers and the end result is that they emerge better trained and equipped to further their criminal careers.

Now don't get me wrong, I have the greatest respect for law enforcement, particularly for the men and women of police forces across this country who place their lives on the line everyday. What frustrates me (and I imagine the cops on the streets) is that our legal system does not support their efforts in many cases.

I could dwell on the above for days, weeks, months, years, in fact I have been most of my adult life, so for right now lets cut to the chase. My question for today is simple......


Why not CAPITAL PUNISHMENT?

I know all the arguments that those against it use , lets see there is the one that goes

How can society tell individual citizens that murder is wrong then turn around as whole and condone it themselves when it is convenient through capital punishment?
 Well that's one is simple, to quote Mr Spock "Logic dictates... The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". But, lets look at it in another way, if it is wrong for society to take the life of one individual to protect society why is it ok to send groups of our citizens out to take the lives of many who threaten our society simply due in many cases to ideological believes or worse yet our want for natural resources (if you haven't guessed yet I just described WAR). In fact as a society we tend to glorify war in print and on film, cheer for the hero with the largest body count of bad guys, and in real life award with medals and parades those who have proven themselves good killing machines in battle. Is this not the ultimate in hypocrisy?

Theres too much danger of convicting an innocent man, putting him to death, only to find out later he is innocent. Do you know how many individuals have been put to death and it was determined years later through science like DNA that they were innocent?
To be very honest I have no idea how many innocent individuals have swung from the end of the hangman's noose over the last couple of centuries, but by the same token neither do most people who use this argument. When you do ask these folks for stats they generally mumble something to the affect of "lots" or "probably more than we know", they rely on the fact that this is a very emotional argument and that they can always fall back on the classic response of " even one innocent unjustly sentenced to death is too many".

I could argue that these are emotional statements, lack any real evidence, and provide a great place for bleeding heart liberals to take refuge in times of crisis or when losing an argument and admitting defeat appears imminent. However I don't need to sink to that level because I have actual facts and rock solid stats, well actually only one stat. so here it is

In the entire history of society imposing Capital Punishment where the sentence has been carried out on a convicted individual there has NEVER been a case of that individual re-offending or committing any further criminal acts. That's right, Capital Punishment is 100% effective in stopping individuals from re-offending.

But enough about stats, we can get back to that once someone can prove the one above is incorrect. Lets talk about science and DNA, those that use this argument tend to overlook the fact that it is a two way street. While science may be effective in turning up the occasional wrongly convicted individual, it has become the basis for proving beyond a doubt the guilt of many that at one time would have slipped from the court systems grasp. So I would suggest that convictions are more accurate than they have ever been.

Last but not least is the classic argument "one is too many", this one is easy just scroll back up to my thoughts on war. Many of the individuals that are sent to fight for our country are in fact "Innocents" that are sent forcibly to their deaths through the draft or conscription. The justification for this is that it is in the best interests of society, or as Mr Spock would say......