Actually the original idea that I based this on didn't mention pardons, but I thought that adding that element would make it more thought-provoking and put people off voting "Yes" in this hypothetical. Your comment suggests it has achieved both those goals.
Don't you think it's an interesting quirk for a legal system to allow both execution and posthumous pardons? If the point of a pardon is to end someone's punishment (even someone "completely guilty"), then shouldn't that necessitate that all punishments imposed by the justice system be impermanent, at least in principle?
I feel as if it's a different question with the pardons. You can pardon a guilty person. Pardons have nothing to do with innocence. Regardless of my feelings on whether or not I'd executed if an innocent man was executed, I definitely wouldn't want to be executed for a guilty person.
So rather than being thought-provoking, it's almost thought-terminating.
And I haven't touched on whether we should execute people in my post. So engaging on that front is also going to be a short road for us. Because in another post, I can get to "the death penalty" is wrong in a much more direct fashion. It's a game you're not allowed to make mistakes in. The minute you've executed an innocent person, you've failed.
> I definitely wouldn't want to be executed for a guilty person.
It sounds like you're saying that you don't think that guilty people should ever be pardoned (even if those pardons didn't lead to the possibility of you having to be executed). That's probably not what you're saying, but I'm trying to understand the significance you are putting on the distinction between "innocent" and "pardoned".
If there are times in which a guilty person should be pardoned and not have to serve a life sentence, then surely there should be times when a guilty person is pardoned and spared from serving a death sentence. Morally speaking I think it is irrelevant if the pardon comes before conviction (i.e. when they are still legally presumed innocent), or before sentencing, or before execution, or after execution.
If you definitely wouldn't want to be executed for a guilty person, and you do believe in pardons (as they exist in the US legal system), then I think you shouldn't want to be executed for an innocent person either.
I believe that previous sentence is logically consistent with your position though. You are saying that P does-not-imply Q and NOT P does-not-imply Q, and I'm saying Q implies P.
