Actually, if you were to look at my posting history, you would see that I am a Christian. Very often in church on Sundays we pray for prisoners and ask God to be with them in their time of darkness. We don't lose sight of the fact that humans commit crimes and their action does not dehumanize them. At the heart of our faith is the requirement of forgiveness and the understanding that the Old Testament's "eye for an eye" was done away with by Christ. This is why I want to give a criminal the "benefit of the doubt"; because behind their errors, they are still human. Heartless retribution is just that; heartless. Disregarding faith, I of course want alleged criminals to receive the benefit of the doubt. I want the burden of proof to always be on the state and don't want to see prosecutors pin allegations or disproportionate punishment upon people. I'd suggest you look at the Catholic church's position on the death penalty. I am not Catholic, but I commend their longstanding position on this retributive bloodlust. Thanks for taking the bait. The Internet is fun.
