Actually, the satisfaction, or perverse pleasure, you people seem to get off on over this man or anyone else suffering makes you at least as bad as he, maybe even worse.
Capital punishment serves no legitimate purpose. We can house inmates for less than we can execute them. Capital punishment has never been proven to be a deterrent, resulting in less crime. Sadly, killing the person that killed your loved one will never give you the kind of satisfaction that you want or feel you need.
My brother was murdered in some random violent act in 1987 – more for kicks than anything else. I’ve obviously had a long time to think about these matters. Capital punishment really doesn’t address the things the survivors need to do to move on. The emotions remain. People either find a way to overcome it or they succumb to it. I shifted my focus from the perpetrators to me.
I’ve just come to the conclusion that our responsibilities include keeping our communities safe while still protecting people’s rights. Life sentences with no possibility of parole (unless the inmate has a debilitating or terminal illness) meet those requirements. I’m confident that we don’t need to kill people to accomplish it.
I’ve gotten no pleasure from the botched execution of the gentleman who shot and buried alive a woman who walked into his attempted burglary. I’ll get no pleasure from the execution of the gentleman who raped and murdered his roommates 11 month old daughter.
Please read my posts carefully before you respond. The news stories about these gentleman do not mention the crimes for which they have been found guilty. I find this lack of information in discussions of capital punishment puzzling.
The background story isn’t relevant to the question of whether the execution was in violation of the constitution and/or whether execution is appropriate at all. All it does for people like you is stimulate your quest for revenge. We might want the killer’s background story. It’s probably fraught with abuse and tragedy. Is it relevant? Not really.
Of course you get something out of the execution. If you feel that the decedent ‘got what he deserved,’ for the crime he committed, then you’re getting pleasure in the form of satisfaction.
It’s simple to me. What do we need to do in order to keep our communities safe? Do we need to kill people? Only if we’re in imminent danger.
Based on my experiences, I’ve decided that we do not need capital punishment. It serves no purpose. It does not keep us safer than lifetime prison sentences. It’s not less expensive. There is no benefit. People who support capital punishment find a benefit, and that benefit is all about punishment, vengeance, an eye-for-an-eye, and all that stuff. That’s why capital punishment DOES reduce you to the killer’s level.
The saddest part is that the reward offered by capital punishment is terribly short-lived, and ultimately the survivors have to learn how to cope and move on, or they will allow themselves to be destroyed. They will never get what they want – to have their loved ones back with them.
I understand wanting to retaliate against the person that hurt you. That’s a normal human emotion. What I don’t get is how you honor your loved one’s memory by killing another human. In my mind, being responsible for the killer’s death, or taking part in it, would be a contaminant.
The reason they are being executed needs to be mentioned or else people will start thinking these gentleman are innocent.
Regarding your view of capital punishment. There will always be someone who thinks a punishment is excessive. Life in prison is certainly very cruel if not unusual.
I never assumed they were innocent. Although, that is most certainly a concern as we know numerous death row inmates and many convicted are innocent. We can safely assume that capital punishment is responsible for the death of at least on innocent person.
As I said, a society’s interest in criminal justice should be limited to keeping their communities safe. That’s my opinion based on personal experience. It’s sad that we continue to perpetuate this myth that capital punishment is an effective deterrent and provides relief to the survivors.
“Life in prison is certainly very cruel if not unusual.” You should ask the guy who died from the botched execution what he thinks about that. Uh oh. I guess you can’t.
Now that you mention it, though, capital punishment is primarily supported by barbarians who think it’s just fine if we kill a few innocent people to satisfy their bloodlust.
There are people who assume all death row inmates are innocent. There is also the sad fact that if the crime and the victims are not mentioned they are soon forgotten and people no longer care why an inmate is on death row.
Keeping communities safe is the main argument for capital punishment. It’s a deterrent and it halts recidivism.
Life in prison certainly is less cruel then death. A maximum of thirty years is less cruel then life in jail. My point is that in addition to finding capital punishment cruel and unusual there will also be those who find life behind bars cruel. It’s a naive view of life that there are no predators.
Barbarians would not support a humane execution. There must be a punishment to a crime. The ultimate crime deserves the ultimate punishment.
