Lately in discussions regarding the Casey Anthony thing, I have heard the phrase "Well I believe in an eye for an eye..." as if that means something or is even pertinent to the discussion at hand. When I hear this I want to respond with "Oh did we somehow go back in time 4,000 years? Is this Ancient Babylonia? Are we worshiping Marduk and should I prepare a pleasing sacrifice?"
Modern societies, progressive and free societies do not adhere to the Hammurabic Code anymore. The laws of modern, progressive, free societies have become more subtle and nuanced with reagrds to criminal law, reflecting what we know about human behavior, and it si really for the better. An eye for an eye was a good start for law, it was a foundation. But since then society has evolved, and modern law is to an eye for an eye as a modern human is to it's single celled ancestor.
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