The so-called D.C. Sniper is to die by lethal injection at 9 p.m.
He was, writes Jack White, at The Root, a “souless killer.” And, writes White, the death penalty is still wrong.
John Allen Muhammad is to be killed tonight
November 10, 2009 · 24 Comments
Categories: Balm in Gilead
24 responses so far ↓
Mike // November 10, 2009 at 6:15 pm |
Right or wrong, the death penalty is too damned expensive.
datingjesus // November 10, 2009 at 6:18 pm |
Isn’t it? And it’s expensive in no smalll part because the death penalty immediately opens the door to multiple appeals — as it should, considering a person’s life is on the line.
Humphrey // November 10, 2009 at 8:40 pm
…and the healthcare some of you want for women is too damned expensive.
Let’s not use that argument.
Tod // November 10, 2009 at 6:42 pm |
Many of us who lived through those three weeks really don’t care. Especially if it is true that this was all a way to cover murdering his wife…which he had not built up to after 10 people.
I know how many of you are against the the death penalty, and I respect that. I simply disagree.
datingjesus // November 10, 2009 at 10:29 pm |
It’s not a topic about which there’s a lot of compromise, is there? Do you mean many of you who lived in the area where this was going on don’t care about his being put to death (which, according to this: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,573829,00.html has occurred).
Tod // November 10, 2009 at 10:44 pm
No, I mean we don’t care that it may be wrong. Or expensive.
Three weeks of something somewhat akin to living in the middle east. Trying not to freak out using gas pumps. Filling up two cars or three so your wife children don’t have to be exposed.
I’m something of a gentle person…but not really. This guy can’t be helped, half the time he won’t understand why he is being punished apparently. Death is a kindness.
Lee Boyd Malvo gets to live forever behind bars. He was a teenager at the time. Most people don’t seem to mind splitting the difference.
Vegas710 // November 10, 2009 at 11:56 pm
I don’t know, Tod. I find that most people who are against the death penalty remain so even after they’ve experienced a trauma.
Jay Croft // November 10, 2009 at 6:50 pm |
Our two daughters live in the area where this guy terrorized the population. They were at risk for many weeks.
Zap him.
datingjesus // November 10, 2009 at 10:30 pm |
I think a lot of people share your view.
Carol // November 10, 2009 at 11:41 pm |
Maybe I don’t have much imagination but I do think there are things worse than death – and being in prison on death row counts as one of them.
datingjesus // November 10, 2009 at 11:51 pm |
I agree. No parole. No hope. That’s pretty harsh. And no release — either physically or mentally, either.
Tod // November 11, 2009 at 12:00 am |
Vegas, just to clarify, I meant most of my friends, not most people.
And I certainly am not most people. I am precisely not known for gentleness, kindness, etc.
Although I will say, I wish there were better choices than death or life in prison. I don’t like either.
datingjesus // November 11, 2009 at 12:02 am |
What would you prefer to see as punishment, if not death or life in prison. I’m not creative enough to think up an alternative.
Tod // November 11, 2009 at 12:15 am
Right now, I don’t know. But science fiction literature has explored it:
–mandatory organ donation (still death, but useful)
–artificial death (the prisoner is convinced he is being killed and experiences everything but permanent death)
–coventry (a reservation where offenders are dumped to fend for themselves)
–slavery
There may be others. If we don’t ask the question, we never find a new answer.
datingjesus // November 10, 2009 at 10:34 pm |
Ha, ha! Humphrey made a joke!
datingjesus // November 10, 2009 at 10:52 pm |
From the people you know in the area, is that the general consensus — at least among the people with whom you’ve talked about this?
Tod // November 10, 2009 at 10:59 pm |
Yes, I have to use the internet to talk to true Liberals. ;-) Look, most of my more liberal friends don’t like the death penalty, but when you have a confession and the inability to recognize the punishment, they accept it.
And of course, my conservative friends want to fry such people.
And Tim Kaine who is against the death penalty could not find legitimate reasons for clemency.
datingjesus // November 10, 2009 at 11:49 pm |
Well, it’s the toughest cases like this one that make us wonder. But I don’t think you can be against capital punishment and then make exceptions.
Vegas710 // November 10, 2009 at 11:59 pm |
I have diminished respect for a person who would be against the death penalty unless the crime effected them. That seems really wrong to me. It says that they don’t care about the victims in other crimes if the only element that changes is the victim.
Tod // November 11, 2009 at 12:07 am |
On principle you may be right. However, until confronted with the reality a person may have a change of heart.
We’ve talked about this stuff before. It really is advanced democracy and not easy.
If perhaps we could find a third, meaningful alternative perhaps the conversation could change. On the other hand, it may only further divide us.
I don’t know. But on a case-by-case basic, I can live with it.
datingjesus // November 11, 2009 at 8:04 am |
I actually have been confronted with it. A friend of mine who worked in a homeless shelter in Hartford, CT, was stabbed to death by a client. I was, up to that point, pretty much on the fence about the death penalty. I could take it or leave it. But I watched my friend’s family pray with the killer and if they weren’t calling for his blood, who was I to do so? It changed me forever, to be honest. I also lost a stepcousin to a drug deal gone bad. He was killed and his immediately family called for the death of his killer, and that’s what happened. This is not theory to me.
datingjesus // November 11, 2009 at 8:06 am |
I don’t read nearly enough science fiction, but I am fascinated by these alternatives.
Tod // November 11, 2009 at 8:23 am |
And I know you’ve shared this before. But that is you. I am different. I find life imprisonment abhorrent.
So again, how do we find an alternative?
datingjesus // November 11, 2009 at 11:45 am |
Start reading more science fiction? You find life imprisonment the way I find capital punishment? Inhumane? I believe you’re right. And I’m not sure why I draw the line at the state killing someone when imprisonment could be — it would be to me, I think — a far worse alternative. Maybe I feel like a person in prison might have some change at redemption within the walls. I don’t know. I’m talking through my hat, I fear.