Executing Those Who Deserve To Die

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Alex Kozinski is a conservative Reagan appointee with a penchant for controversial language. His statement was part of a dissent. Judge Kozinski wanted to put a legal hold on an execution. His fellow jurists on the 9th Circuit Court went the other way, refusing to review the death penalty decision of a lower court.

lethal injection

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Burr Deming

Burr is a husband, father, and computer programmer, who writes and records from St. Louis. On Sundays, he sings in a praise band at the local Methodist Church. On Saturdays, weather permitting, he mows the lawn under the supervision of his wife. He can be found at FairAndUNbalanced.com
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newageluddite
9 years ago

I agree that killing others for revenge only pulls humanity back into the mire.
The whole death by injection movement started in Oklahoma. As a young Oklahoma state legislator, Rep. Bill Wiseman introduced legislation that became the model for lethal-injection laws nationwide. He eventually became appalled at what he’d helped create; repented of this; switched to the Democrat party; and got soundly defeated at the next election. At age 61 he became an ordained Episcopal priest and was active in fostering social justice until his early death.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/archives/rev-bill-wiseman-jr-was-hard-to-pin-down/article_38079880-a527-564e-90b2-84be0c6ffad0.html

Bill Formby
Reply to  newageluddite
9 years ago

I remember an interview with him. Despite all of his good intentions he seemed to be a tortured man.

9 years ago

Thoughtful comments. Thank you.

I guess I come closest to Pennyjane Hanson’s reaction. I began to oppose the death penalty as a result of Governor Ryan’s stand and the research he provoked.

But it came to me that the issue was not with those who, unlike me, would be unwilling to put aside their anger at the crimes. The issue is with people very much like me.

Bill Formby
9 years ago

By taking it upon ourselves to kill those who kill for revenge or to send a message to others who might kill we have stepped across the same line as the one we are killing. It has been proven over and over again that any system that we devise to ferret out the guilty for that ultimate punishment will be flawed and we, society, will also kill innocents. Even if we were to perfect the process, the mere fact that our arrogance would lead us to kill shows our imperfection. Executions only show how little value we in this country places on life while most other older, wiser civilizations have already learned that it accomplishes nothing. A friend of mine once pointed out that there may well be a correlation between the fact that while America still has the death penalty it also has one the highest rates of violent crime in the world.

Reply to  Bill Formby
9 years ago

Here! Here!

Admin
9 years ago

I was once a fierce defender of the death penalty, until I realized that once you press that button, or pull that trigger, the bad guy suffers no more but the families of their victims will suffer for life. I prefer a slow death, one that puts an offender in an 8×10 cell for the rest of his or her natural life. That’s punishment.

Paul Gallagher
9 years ago

No death penalty in Britain. Gave it up years ago and there’s not one difference in the number of murders. Only deters those who are hung.

Pennyjane Hanson
9 years ago

well, suicide is always an option…if someone really feels within themselves that death is better than life, if it’s really more than just bravado, they can make it happen. one enticing thing about the death penalty is that you get to take the option out of their hands…you get to IMPOSE your will on them.

not that i particular like that about myself, but it can be pretty self-satisfying.

Timmy Mahoney
9 years ago

Mike and I spent years together working the streets as cops in Missouri and I can tell you that some people are just shit bags who deserve to die. That being said it just isn’t punishment enough. As Smith mentioned: decades in prison. That’s fucking punishment. Death means lights out, no more pain. Make them suffer for as long as they draw breath in the belly of the beast.

Chuck
9 years ago

This is a great argument. Thanks for writing it.

Pennyjane Hanson
9 years ago

this is one of the most stimulating articles i’ve read in a long time.

“the rage inside of me is a large part of why i have to be against the death penalty.”

this makes me feel like that even with my strong commitment to saving the forest, every time i see a tree i get this maniacal urge to chop it down.

although i’m against the death penalty period, each time i examine an individual case that thought creeps into my head, “i could pull the trigger on THIS guy myself.

sometimes we just have to drag ourselves kicking and screaming back to reality.

9 years ago

As cruel and often badly-done as the death penalty is, it still isn’t as bad as decades in a prison. Given the choice between the two, I’d pull the switch on my own execution.

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