Nulla Poene Sine Lege

"No punishment without law."

The argument against the death penalty that "we can render offenders incapable of harm" is laughable on the face of it—again, two words, "Aryan Brotherhood". Just in general, several of our worst criminal groups only exist in prisons, and our prisons are far more dangerous than the outside society.

But is this not unjust? A prisoner's relinquishing of his right to defend himself—to bear arms—must be, in justice, contingent on his jailers' defending him. But plainly, since so many prisoners are murdered and otherwise harmed every year, they do not defend him. Certainly not competently.

Given that we do, in fact, hold that crimes like robbery do not warrant death, and criticize regimes like Iran that use rape as a punishment, we cannot, in conscience, maintain that allowing murder and rape to occur in our prisons has any relation to justice.

Plainly, if you are an opponent of the death penalty, you must—or be a liar—support whatever measures are necessary so that our prisons actually can prevent offenders from doing further harm. If you are not an opponent of the death penalty but support it because you believe it is just, then you must support whatever measures are necessary so that those of our prisoners who are not considered worthy of death, do not die. And, again, since no reasonable person thinks anyone deserves to be raped, prison-rape can only be an injustice.

Of course, it seems to me likely, the deterrent effect—in plain English the terror—of prison would be diminished if the prisons began, in some way, to actually be just, rather than literal dens of thieves, run by their inmates. And rendering the prisons actually secure would involve a great deal of harshness, as well. I predict that the same people who claim "modern correctional methods" have rendered the death penalty obsolete, would be just as ardently opposed to any "modern correctional method" that actually did attempt to prevent offenders from doing further harm.

So of course, the idea of an actually just justice system would meet with no support, either from right or left: because not a single person actually wants to look hard at his principles, and see what would be entailed in realizing them.