« Spin to victory: Part II | Main | And who thinks being a congressman is qualification for anything? »

The Verdict

Rudolph Hess. The German Moussaoui.

Well, its the "death penalty" debate again. Another pointless exercise in unmoveable politics in a head-on collision with unbendable minds.

I support the death penalty. I always have. I support it, not because of "eye for an eye" or any sense of vengence but because I think its humane. I dont think it should be handed out lightly or gratuitiously or for vengence but I do think that there are cases where it is not only called for, it is actually the required and the decent thing to do.

"Death penalty - Decent? Humane?

Allow me to explain.

We are not discussing what crimes should be considered as "capital crimes", but only what penalties should be applied for those crimes. The issue about what "is" and "is not" a capital crime has nothing to do with my argument. Civilizations makes moral and value based judgements as to the descending order of crime severity. In a Democracy such as ours, in some fashion its the people who speak to what "is" and "is not" the most severe of crimes and their penalties.

That being said there are only two choices for the very worst capital crimes, Death or life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Let's consider the second option first so as to put it in context with the controversial "Death Penalty".

Think about what the phrase " he got life..." really means. Life imprisonment, locked into a cement hell with no hope of ever returning to the outside world. Day after day after day of tedious oppression. Imagine what it is to grow old behind bars. Decades pass and those connections you had on the outside world begin to fade away, your health and sanity fade, but your living conditions do not improve. There is no rehabilition, there is no salvation, you are alive but in every way that can be measured, to your family, your friends, your culture, you have died. You will never contribute to life. Once you have died there will be no one who will remember your name except for those whom will remember you only as a criminal.

You start out young and tough and you end up a beaten animal no matter who you are, the path to end is the same. The penal system and teh criminal system will beat you at every turn. No matter how bad it is, no matter how long it takes for you to die, you have no hope of it ending with a sudden call from the parole board.

You will live and die behind bars. You will die a little bit every day.

Imagine starting every single day of your life without hope and without redemption. This is real life where there is no Hollywood ending. Imagine that the process of waiting for death takes decades. Decades of being victimized, processed and used at every possible opportunity as the prison population continues to change around you but you stay behind. Others may leave, but you stay and you will never leave.

Think about life in prison, not in terms of days, months and years, but as decades. Think about what a life sentence that started in 1970 would mean to the person serving that sentence today. 36 years behind bars. If they entered prison at age 20, that would mean that you probably are only half way through your sentence before you eventually die. You've been in prison since 1970, yet you are only half way to the inevitable end.

How much has the world changed since 1970? Ponder that idea for a moment and all the things that have happened since that you take for granted. How much will it change in the next 30 years?

It doesnt matter, you will have seen none of it.

What you saw in that time was cement, steel, vomit, blood and the compressed spring-like hatred of the insane. What you heard every day for 60 years was 24 hour industrial noise. There is no such thing as a quiet prison. There is no quiet corner to escape into a world of your own. You are always aware that you are in prison. You will very likely go slowly insane over the six decades of your incarceration. You will never leave alive. You are aware of that fact ever single day of your existence.

This is what life imprisonment means. It means that in a capital crime that the State is excused from the responsibility of carrying out your sentence. Its not "the State" that killed you, it was just an unfortunate part of your incarceration. The state will not rehabilitate you, nor will it ever parole you, but it will ensure that you are kept in conditions that decent people would not keep dogs at the neighborhood SPCA.

Life imprisonment is a great many things, but life without hope is not humane. It is slow cruelty visted on the criminal by the State under the guise of humane treatment. It is cruelty refined.

When we treat animals in what we call "a humane way", we recognize the sad fact that an animal that is in pain should not be allowed to live in those condtions. When that occurs, we speak in terms of "putting them down". When there is nothing that can be done to address the affliction, we regretfully and respectfully take up the ugly business of putting the animal down. We do it, because it is our duty to see it done right.

Here is my test case for my position on the "Death Penalty"

Jeffery Dahmer.

Once upon a time, Jeffery Dahmer someones little boy, all full of the promise that parents always have for all of their children. But something went horribly wrong with Jeffery. He became a cannibal of the first order. This man had some very serious issues. He killed and ate people. He kept their bodies in a refrigerator in his house. The issues that lead to his desire to become a cannibal had no hope of any sort of treatment, there was no magic pill to take, no therepist to talk to. There was never going to be any "slap to the forehead - what was I thinking!" moment for Jeffery. He killed, he ate and he killed again. As long as he was alive, thats all it would ever be.

Jeffery Dahmer was caught and convicted. He was sentenced to life. Actually he was sentenced to 15 life sentences, just to make clear to everyone that he would never ever be eligible for parole. There was no redemption or correction to Jeffery Dahmer as part of his sentence.

Up to this point many people would just say " that seems fair" but they dont know the end of the story, for Jeffery Dahmer didnt finish his sentence naturally.

A few years after he started serving his sentence, Jeffery Dahmer was beaten to death in a toilet. The State could feel that it was just in not giving Jeffery Dahmer a "Death Sentence" but its safe to say that the State was at the very least, a co-conspirator in his death.

Life in prison? Is that really what we should call it or is it slow death roasting in hell? Is it really humane to be beaten to death in a toilet?

Is it humane to put prisoners with 15 life sentences in close contact with guards when the prisoners know that there is no penality beyond what they have already been given? Do guards deserve to die because the State needs to feel that its humane in its sentencing of criminals? Is a guards life worthless while a criminal is to be valued? Should other prisoners who have not been sentenced to life be allowed to be killed by those who were? Should the State be held without blame for these conditions?

Some people say that the State has no right to take someones life, but they fail to explain how a State can exist at all without the taking of life. States have police and military forces that are often regularly called upon to die in the service to the State. The State thinks nothing of the righteousness in these examples of 'taking of life'. The State may allow even the construction of homes in areas prone to flooding and will not be held to account at the loss of life that will surely result from their actions. States kill people for that is what they do. The idea that they dont have the right to kill people flies in the face of the recorded history of 7,000 years of civilization.

I do not like the "Death Penalty" but I see it as more humane than the alternative. A death sentence where you can die with dignity or a life sentence where you are beaten to death in a toilet, you can be the judge which is more humane. I do not want it applied "willy-nilly" but I do believe that if you are not going to rehabilitate or "correct" convicts while placing them in a cement hell without any hope of parole for an entire lifetime, then I think the State will find it too easy to not carry out its final duty. The Death Penalty is severe and it should be but that should not be a reason to sidestep its duty. The State carries out a Death Sentence, whether or not the Convict is hung by the neck, beaten in a toilet or dies in his sleep 60 years after starting his sentence.

I reject the idea that a "life sentence" is more humane than the "Death Penalty". The only difference between the two, is speed.

Today Zacarias Moussaoui was denied the prize of martyrdom for his crimes. Sentenced to life imprisonment, Moussaoui will be treated to life as slow death. He will die, 60 odd years from now, not as a "brave martyr to his cause", but as a toothless, babbling shell of a man.

During the next 60 years the decrepit religious order to which he belongs will be brought down and "radical islam" will be swept into the dustbin of history alongside the Nazis and the Communists. Civilization will go on but Moussaoui and his perverted order will play no role in it. He will die alone, unknown and quite insane not as a great "sacrifice to his cause" but as a footnote to history as the Islamic Rudolph Hess.

"You are not with the guards now, madame! You are a prisoner! I may leave here today empty handed. But you... are not going anywhere!"

Laurence Olivier in "The Boys from Brazil".

Posted @ May 03, 2006 03:40 PM | Current Affairs

Posted by: hgwells at May 4, 2006 10:03 AM

Posted by: Chris M at May 4, 2006 01:26 PM

Posted by: decrepitoldfool at May 4, 2006 02:31 PM

Posted by: Terri at May 4, 2006 02:47 PM

Posted by: Stan Oswald at May 4, 2006 03:22 PM

Posted by: PoliTech at May 10, 2006 09:33 AM

Posted by: Mikko Nummelin at August 21, 2006 03:28 PM