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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   31242 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 9, 2023

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When the French government abolished the death penalty in 1981, the majority of the French people opposed this move. Yet it still happened. A democracy steamroling popular opinion, to be lenient towards criminals isn't unprecedented.

Mentioning for our American readers just because it's a fun fact... The guillotine continued to be the French method of execution until the end of capital punishment. The last person to be guillotined in France was in 1977.

I'm sure exceptions to the rule exist, but we should deal in probabilities and stive for accurate piors. The president ran on being against the death penalty, and was elected. In my examples, I'm talking about sub 20% popular support. I don't know what it was in France.

They still do by the way, a 2020 survey put it at 55% support.

When some claim the death penalty to be "Sensible Centrism" they're not kidding.

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