[creekster]

I will say this about the DP in the other side. WHen I clerked at a court after law school I worked on a capital case involving a child killer and molester. He confessed to the crimes after being arrested and the confession was corroborated by a long list of direct and circumstantial evidence. His confession is, without a doubt, the most sickening and horrifying thing I have ever read. He had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Eventually, he asked that all effrots to appeal be stopped. After the minimally necessary appeals were completed his wishes were granted and he was executed. I am unaware of anyone that felt badly about it, although I am sure some people did. It seemed that even the Fervent DP opponents had little stomach for this particualr fight, however. The DP seems to have been the best option in this case for both soceity and the criminal. His crimes were so bad, he didn't even want to live with himself. Moreover, his case met the Gordon standard; the evidence was abotu as incontrovertible as evidence can be in an imperfect world and an imperfect system. Sometimes, I guess, it can work. On balance, however, it sems to me that it is better to have some guy like this living in his personal ehll in a prison cell than it is to make an innocent person face the hell of an unjust premature death.