If the ultimate penalty, death, is not a deterrent then no punishment is a deterrent; so why have gaols?

What David and others are evading is the fact that the 'Republic of Indonesia' is an illegitimate power, and with the exception of Wahid havs never given a toss about any principle. The two Australians and other foreigners are being executing for domestic political reasons.

What Australians should be thinking about is what that Indonesian and other Indonesian policies reflect about the Indonesian public, their government, and whether Australia should be aiding or trying to protect itself from those aspects of its neighbour?

Dear Is Mise,

<<If the ultimate penalty, death, is not a deterrent then no punishment is a deterrent; so why have gaols?>>

Because many do not share this belief that death is the ultimate penalty.

LEGO
Why does the possibility that life imprisonment is worse than execution diminish the argument that the innocent are sometimes convicted? My point is that those wrongly imprisoned can be freed and compensated; those wrongly executed cannot.

Daeron
The article addresses the morality of the death penalty in general, not the specifics of the Bali 2. I agree that sovereign states make their own laws and penalties, but sometimes those laws are brutal and unjust, and we have every right to say so.

Is Mise
I don’t think the death penalty is not a deterrent, but it’s clearly not very effective. In the USA, states with the death penalty have higher murder rates on average than those without. The key question is whether it is more of a deterrent than the alternative - life imprisonment. This is where the evidence is mixed an inconclusive.

Even if neither the death penalty nor life imprisonment were deterrents, we would still have jails – to keep dangerous people off the streets, for punishment, and to provide opportunities for rehabilitation.

I'm sorry folks, what a lot of you are missing about this whole question of capital punishment, is that particular sentence is meant wholly as a 'punishment' nothing else. Not as a deterrent, a warning, a fiscal imperative (though some Nations may disagree?) nothing. It's a 'punishment' only, for taking another's life ! And as such, I don't agree with this ultimate sentence !

On another note, some have compared or contrasted, which is the worse of the two options ? Life imprisonment or being put to death ? Knowing maximum security gaols as I do, unless you're one tough, brutal dude, execution would be far more preferable, in my opinion.

Yuyutsu,

"Because many do not share this belief that death is the ultimate penalty".

Then what is the ultimate penalty?