For the record though I do think in cases of the truly abhorrent crimes where guilt is flagrantly obvious I think the criminal has forfeited the right to live. It’s the estimated 4% of cases where an innocent person is executed by the state that have me believe it should never be reinstated as a blanket punishment for murder
Whats abhorrent? How do you codify that into law in a way that’s equitable and not open to abuse? There’s people that think gay sex is abhorrent, or abortion, or massive fraud, or terrorism, or child neglect.
I was reading an article recently with a concept of “censorship jealousy” that quite powerfully argued for free speech absolutionism on the grounds that say you ban hate speech against one group youve then got to allow it for more and more groups until you’re banning blasphemy and vegan jokes.
Same applies here. You say crime against kids are abhorrent. I ask why not the elderly. Someone else says why not racist murders. Someone else asks why murder is worse than rape. Someone else neglect or abuse. Someone else that destroying people’s livelihoods is the same. And so on and so on.
And that bar doesn’t stay in one place over time.
I think there’s also something about officially losing redemption as a concept that I don’t like as a society. It’s not something I have fixed thoughts on, but the idea that people can cross a line and never be allowed back no matter what troubles me.