So what's the libertarian solution?

Dafydd, the Big Lizard, has what he calls a conservative solution for the death penalty (in response to an article from Patterico). It involves executing people faster and more easily than presently allowed, with a small helping of caning for more minor crimes. Sounds good to me; justice should be swift, relentless, and accurate. (It's the third part that's important; if the death penalty is to be applied swiftly and relentlessly to certain cases, it must also be applied accurately).

The way I see it, anyone convicted of premeditated murder or terrorism (that's real terrorism, not the FBI's "let's apply the Patriot Act to everything" terrorism), beyond a reasonable doubt, should be executed within a year of their conviction. Give them the full-time services of a PI for that whole year, along with appropriate support from a crime lab, if they think they can prove their innocence; but once a jury has said that they are guilty, waiting is not appropriate. It only dilutes the linkage between cause and effect.

Mistakes will be made. Mistakes are inevitable. Sometimes, new testing methods emerge Nevertheless, the immediate aftermath of a crime is when the memories of witnesses are clearest and the politics of the death penalty have had the least chance to interfere.

But in the tail end of his post, Dafydd mentions that he also has a libertarian solution. I'd like to know what it is (hence this post); but I have my own libertarian solution, and it goes like this.

Everyone who wants to carries a handgun. No permits, no licenses, open or concealed as desired.

It is very hard to have a case of mistaken identity when the person involved is trying to kill you. And it is very hard to try to kill someone you know is armed, especially when you know that those around them are also armed, and you are likely to be shot trying to leave the scene even if you succeed. And people will be very, very polite in public, because failure to control your emotions to the point of attacking someone else has serious, sudden, and dramatic consequences.

UPDATE: Turns out Dafydd's libertarian solution is the infamous Texan defense: "Your honor, I plead not guilty to murder; the man needed killin'." He'd set it up as an affirmative defense; use it, and you have to go to trial, and prove that to a jury. He notes that it would need some safeguards against racists and the like; I agree, and provided there were some safeguards against the obvious problems, I like the idea.

Posted on 2005-11-26 19:47:06.0 by matthew@triggerfinger.org

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