Would you support the death penalty for white collar crimes?
It is difficult, but not impossible, for me to conceive of a situation in which a white-collar crime could merit the death penalty. I'm thinking of something along the lines of a scam that so thoroughly impoverishes its victim that that victim subsequently dies prematurely of some cause that could have been avoided, had that victim not been so impoverished, coupled with am awareness and lack of concern on the part of the perpetrator that his crime could result in such a death.
Really, any crime which the perpetrator should reasonably know has a likelihood of resulting in an unjust death, which the perpetrator commits without concern for this possibility, and which, in fact, does result in death, ought to merit the death penalty.
I'm open to the idea of the death penalty for serious crimes in which the victim's livelihood is attacked. Stealing a horse used to be considered a capital crime, on the basis that by stealing a man's means of transportation, you might be depriving him of the necessary means to survive. I'd not be opposed to the death penalty, on that basis, for some instances of stealing a car, or of stealing the tools on which someone depends in order to make his living.
I can also see the death penalty as being justified for some instances of a large accumulated amount of criminality, consisting of a very large number of crimes each of which do not, in themselves, rise to nearly a capital level; but where the sum total of all the criminality, and all the disregard for the rights of others, reflected in this pattern of many crimes, amounts to a sufficient level as to merit the forfeit of the perpetrator's life.
Finally, I can easily see the death penalty as appropriate for almost any serious abuse of one's power as a member of government. Public servants really need to be very forcefully reminded, from time to time, that they are our servants, and not our masters. I think this would be a much healthier society if we were much bolder about reminding the worst of our corrupt officials in such a manner, both to eliminate them from our population, and as a warning to any others who might contemplate similar abuses. I have a very vague memory of having heard of some society in which a certain public official, while conducting his duties, sat on a bench that was upholstered with the skin of the last person to hold that position and to abuse the power thereof. How much healthier our society would be if our public servants all had similar reminders of their role as our servants,and of the gravity of any abuse of the positions.
