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A comment on Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online. Parent comment

Re:Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And... by namdnay on Monday January 09, 2023 @05:10PM (#34316982)
> If the government does not play at least some lip service to the desire for retribution, then more people will take it into their own hands. They'll seek vigilante justice.

If that were the case, we'd see significantly higher amounts of "vigilante justice" in countries that have abolished the death penalty, right?

I think "vigilante justice" is more often than not "vigilante policing", when people believe criminals aren't being sufficiently investigated and arrested, not when people believe criminals aren't being sufficiently executed

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Re:Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And... by LarryMullins on Monday January 09, 2023 @05:26PM (#34317244)
The intensity of desire for retribution depends on the cultural context. In any case, you're conflating retribution with the death penalty, but these are not synonymous. Imprisonment is a form of retribution too, as are fines, caning, etc. Any punishment that is unpleasant has an element of retribution.
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Re:Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And... by JumpCrisscross on Monday January 09, 2023 @05:22PM (#34317168)
> we'd see significantly higher amounts of "vigilante justice" in countries that have abolished the death penalty, right?

No. The death penalty is not the only way to satisfy this nature.

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