There are a few things on which I hesitate to give an opinion, unless I am asked. This is one of them. Remember, dear Friend, you asked.
It was “meet around the flagpole” day, in the latter part of September 2001. Of course, earlier that month the most violent crime many of us had ever known had taken the lives of thousands. A group of brokenhearted city employees, myself included, gathered around the City Hall flagpole to pray for our country, and it was decided we would each share a prayer. When it was my turn, this came out of my heart and therefore my mouth, “Father, be with us. Help us to be strong, to forgive, and to heal. Be with those who did this, and give them whatever mercy you can.” Half of those in the circle never spoke to me again.
The radio newscaster kept breaking in, the day Timothy McVeigh was to be executed. As the execution drew near, we had a minute-to-minute update on what was being done, how, and why. And though I believe the sentence was just, when they announced he was dead, I sat down in the living room floor and cried for the man, whose victims I had shed tears for six years earlier.
I am not against the death penalty, but it is not a deterrent to violent crime. If it were, there would be very little violent crime in my great state of Texas. But it should be used sparingly and carefully and only in cases when it’s truly not safe for society to allow the perpetrator to live. And those who commit violent crimes must be punished, but where it is possible they must also be treated. Where it is possible, what is broken must be repaired.
I prayed for those who flew the planes and cried for Timothy, because they were someone’s brother, someone’s father, someone’s husband, and someone’s child, and because they were human beings.
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September 22, 2008 at 6:56 pm
thelittlefluffycat
I remember trying to explain to someone that Osama Bin Laden was one of EIGHTY CHILDREN, and what that would have to mean in terms of his need to be seen and validated and perceived as important.
It is what it is, you know? We all start out in the same place. We’re all Someone’s child.
September 22, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Shawn W
Not only that LFC, but in his culture the first-born male gets the lion’s share of affection and inheritance. The percentage drops for each successive male, and he was near the end of those eighty.
He would almost have to conquer the world to even get his father’s attention.
Even the most monstrous of men have a mother who shed’s tears over him.
September 23, 2008 at 8:29 am
pandemonic
I agree with you.
Some crimes are so horrendous, what else can the judicial system do? But you’re right, it doesn’t deter violent crime. Keeping prisoners alive for the rest of their lives isn’t an answer either. It costs the people money, and does it really “punish” them? After all, they’re taken care of.
Tough call, for sure.
September 23, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Stevo
There are no easy answers. My father was a police officer and campaigned for the reinstatement of the death penalty in Canada. It never happened.
I can see both sides of it and have no firm opinion. Your insights are clear, Shawn. Everyone is grieved over by someone, everyone has a mother.
September 23, 2008 at 3:06 pm
davidrochester
There’s certainly nothing here that I find objectionable … I mean, I was the one who wrote the post about empathizing with murderers.
I don’t think the death penalty deters violent crime; I do think that some people are so far gone, and so dangerous, that there is nothing else to be done but to let them leave the world. The death penalty disgusts me as a form of revenge, or making an example of a criminal, etc. As a means of ending an impossible situation, however, I can see its value in rare circumstances.
September 23, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Wanda Rizzuto
I agree with 98% of this Shawn. I would only disagree with the part where you say it should be used sparingly. I don’t think it should be used at all, ever. That’s the hill I’m dying on.
I know, I’m weird. But I don’t care what anyone says, giving a play by play on someone’s death, no matter whose it is, is disgusting and barbaric and there’s no place for it in civilized society. It’s not about Timothy McVeigh, it’s about all of us.
That’s all I have to say about that.
September 23, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Shawn W
Pan, it is a tough call.
Did you know, when you factor in appeals and retrials, it costs less to keep someone in prison than it does to execute them?
I come from a law enforcement family too, Stevo. My granddad was a sheriff then a judge. He would alternately grieve over some kid, spending much of his life in jail for a stupid mistake, and rant over some child abuser or drunk driver, who got off much to easy.
I’m not sorry we have the death penalty, just wish we were more careful about using it. I also wish we would do a better job of rehabilitating young offenders.
David, Texas puts more people to death every year than all the other states together do in two, and our violent crime rates are rising. You’re right it is not a deterrent. But I can only think of a couple of times when I thought life in prison would have been a better choice. I also think we should never feel anything but sorrow when a person has to be put to death.
On an interesting note: Gun crimes, committed by young people, are down in the Ft Worth area, even though the crime rate itself is up. Ft Worth ran a big campaign a few years back telling people, if you used a gun to commit a crime in Ft Worth you would be in prison as far from your family as they could send you, then they did just that. It seems that it really worked!
September 23, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Shawn W
Wanda, a lot of people feel the same way you do, and I agree about the play by play. It was one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever heard. The idea of people gleefully listening makes me a little ill.
October 1, 2008 at 6:28 pm
tigereye
This has always been a tough one for me. I used to be for it, and then as I got older — I’ve changed positions on quite a few major things between my teens and the age of about thirty — the inequities of it bothered me more and more. If you’re poor or black or can’t evoke sufficient sympathy from twelve flawed people, I don’t think you should die for it. Although there are times I feel there’s nothing else sufficient that could be done. I guess I’ll always find exceptions to my recent stand against it — the latest is the guy who killed his girlfriend’s cat, for instance…
I like the way you portrayed this. Good job.
October 1, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Shawn W
It is a tough one, Tigereye. So many old rulings are being overturned because of DNA and other advances in investigation. I guess we’re lucky to have those things now.
Thanks.