Advantages/Disadvantages of Capital Punishment

[Ozymandyus]

Well, I think that it has to be said that the crimes that death penalty is applied to (murder and rape) are inevitable. :cry: Human beings have evolved in such a way that given the right circumstances they will commit these offenses.

Take rape for example - most perpetrators are young men with a low social status, and from a Darwinian perspective this makes sense. A young man of low status will often be overlooked by the females, who want a more impressive mate. If this is the case, the young male can either risk violence to have a chance a reproducing or assign his genetics to the rubbish bin of history. Rape is a very impulsive act, and occurs most often in a highly charged sexual environment (e.g. date rape). The risk of being caught and executed is outweighed by the risk of not being able to reproduce. Of course, it all likelihood no babies will be made, but before abortion came along, low status men who resorted to this in the wild would have successfully passed on their genetics to the next generation. On the other hand, the number of rapists who have children is rather small, because they have already succeeded in fathering children.

The problem here is that the death penalty is not a deterrent, because the perpetrator's brain is telling him it's worth the risk.

If we were to apply the death penalty to the illegal downloading of MP3s, the related crime rate would drop to almost zero. It's not impulsive, it's a direct choice.

But, things are different with murder and rape, as evolved responses they defy (what seems to our rational side) logic and reason, but they serve a deeper evolutionary purpose.

Just as making sex illegal would not stop it at all, rape and murder are, sadly, in the category of impulsive crimes.

The best way to bring the rape and murder crime rate down is education. Well educated, prosperous men have far more important things to do than rape. "So what if that girl doesn't want me? A million more do." Maybe being a cocky bastard is beneficial to society! :lol:

The idea that rape is a result of evolution is hotly contested and, I believe, flatly wrong. I was talking about this in another thread, but anyway - read this article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/202789. At the very least, before we go making broad claims about rape and murder being a biological imperatives we need to look more closely at what causes these things - we are in agreement there. But to assume a biological tendency towards this stuff as we have for the last 30 years when there is little or no evidence on basis that it may be advantageous in certain situations (that may or may not have existed for an evolutionarily significant stretch of time) is completely bad science. It abuses the idea of evolution and we should be more careful before establishing whole fields of science that have all kinds of implications about human life on very little evidence.

Is there a general increase in aggression and risk taking behaviour in desperate circumstances? Sure, I can buy that and it is a perfectly good reason to try to decrease desperate circumstances for humans. But to point to rape as a biologically selected for mechanism because of their inability to procreate by competing for mates is to completely discount the layers of related behaviour that are all incredibly closely connected and are the root of the problem. And it makes you come to crazy conclusions like 'if we just got these poor people LAID they would stop raping people' - which is probably straight up FALSE.

 

[Komu]

Maybe I'm a bit behind the times. :lol: I'm not ruling out other reasons for rape at all - fetishes, mental illness, indoctrination, lack of education, peer pressure - all these things play certain roles. I'm not saying that the reason I gave above is completely correct, or even comes close. It was just an example that I had been taught. I can't say whether rape is something that has been directly selected for or is a side-effect of something else. However, if we look at other mammals, many species also engage in rape, and in some situations it could be advantageous.

It can't be denied, however, that the majority of rapists come from a similar socioeconomic background. Granted, it could be that the well educated and less desperate learn to be more respectful of others, ergo don't engage in rape as often.

Also, just to clear up:

if we just got these poor people LAID they would stop raping people

I believe that the majority must have deeper psychological issues than simply wanting sex, I agree that that is a crazy conclusion.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/202789

That was a very interesting article, thanks!