Switching Sides On The Death Penalty

 

There is an inner voice in my head that can’t stop screaming!

 

I’ve heard it since last week when the United States Supreme Court declared the rape of a child under the age of 12 should not – cannot – be punished by death.  That, a majority of the court ruled, is not a “proportional punishment.” 

 

The case before the court came from Louisiana, representing the only two men in the entire country who faced death for what they did to small children. One repeatedly raped a five year old. The other attacked his own 8 year old daughter so viciously she required surgery.  The court concluded their actions did not rise to the level of crimes that deserve death, namely crimes against the state (like treason) or murder.

 

Part of my logical brain wants to scream into the faces of the Supreme Court Justices to come to their collective senses, the other part of my brain reminds me I am against the death penalty. 

 

I truly believe that the evil behind murder is comparable to the evil that fuels the rape of a child.  The perpetrator can literally kill vital parts of the child – their ability to trust, to love, to find intimacy.  Often no true peace can be found for a child who has been brutally, sexually savaged by an adult. On some level, and sometimes it is profound, their suffering constitutes a life sentence of psychological confusion.   

 

My husband and I have long argued about capitol punishment over morning coffee and newspapers.  I maintain the real punishment comes with keeping the monster locked up every single day of his life, condemned to a live where other inmates often prey on criminals who’ve targeted children. To execute him lets him off easy. And besides, I believe, when the state takes a life it is killing … the very act we say we abhor. 

 

My husband scoffs at my argument that keeping convicts in prison is worse punishment as a vast majority on death row would take life over execution any day.  He also believes society has the right to mete out punishment that is commensurate with the crime, death for death.  And death for child rape if a state so decides. 

 

There are countless pro and con debate points on capital punishment, including the false conviction rate, the cost comparison of life in prison versus death and the religious principle “Thou shall not kill.”  Some make the point that the high court has stepped outside its narrow constitutional function to decide points of policy and the narrow 5 to 4 decision proves that.  

 

There isn’t enough space in this entire newspaper to do justice to all the arguments.  And experts say those who have made up their minds whether they are for it or against it are unlikely to switch opinions.

 

Really? Because my anti-death penalty resolve dissolves when you talk about harm to a child.  I guess that makes me a hypocrite.

 

To say that I surprise myself on my reaction to the Supreme Court ruling is an understatement.  How can I even think they were incorrect in that ruling if I am truly against the death penalty?  I agreed when the Court banned executions for the mentally retarded and under aged – but not this.

 

I can’t help but think of the horror a small child faces during the act.  The terror, confusion and physical pain an infant, toddler or elementary school child endures at the hand of an adult acting like an animal with no regard to their innocence or future state of mind.  I want retribution; I have the urge to kill. I border on being ashamed of that feeling and feeling consoled that such an act would rid the world of a wicked fiend.  

 

Those two men in Louisiana will now be sentenced to life without parole and the  state will have to change its law on child rapists.  So will the legislatures in Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and probably Georgia (the status of this state’s law is in doubt)   And the three other states in the process of writing laws to make it a capitol offense to rape a child, Missouri, Colorado and Alabama, are also wondering what their next course of action might be. 

 

Troy King, the Attorney General of Alabama sounds as though his state may decide to fight the decision.  “Anybody in the country who cares about children should be outraged what we have a Supreme Court that would issue a decision like this.” 

 

I am among the outraged. In effect the Supreme Court has said society must wait for the child to be murdered too before enacting our harshest punishment.

 

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 Leave a reader comment here  (Leave your name and town, please)

 

 

Dudley S. from Houston, Texas writes ...

   After a long review and a lot of thought I switched positions on the death penalty. I am for, now, it.

   Although I had qualms about the death penalty for child rapists, I completely understand the outrage against SCOTUS' decision, which I found, deeply flawed. My reservation were not based upon any feeling that such rapists were undeserving of the death penalty. I am a firm believer in incentives and, therefore, I believe in deterrence. There is a positive incentive for child rapists to murder their victims - no living witness/victim and no additional negative incentive, because the punishment for child rape and child murder would now be the same.

     What I  don't understand is why you don't see that the murder and or rape of innocent adults just as horrible  as that of children. No innocent victim should be subject to such horror, a horror which I don't find adjusted on some invisible "horror" scale between ages  2, 5, 11, 16, 25 or 98.

Dudley Sharp

Justice Matters

Vincent P. writes ...

     Thank you so much for giving voice to the concerns around the death penalty for child rapists -- you are truly not alone, nor are you a hypocrite.  I too struggle with the same dilema in my reasoning...the thought of harming a child in that way is so reprehensible that death seems like too light of a punishment.  And yes, the sentence for the child affected is far worse than death.
     I also struggle on the subject of abortion just for that reason -- I cannot be pro-choice and against the death penalty...that is highly illogical.  But again, that is such a difficult subject to take an absolutist position on...what kind of "sentence" does the child have if born to a mother that does not want them?  If you are willing to have an abortion, it is logical that the mother may potentially do a lousy job of taking care of that kid once they are born. 
     Anyway, I think you struggle with the same thoughts as all the rest of us do...and the easy choice is to take an absolute position and make no exceptions, as many in the conservative circles do.  But as a thinking being, sometimes that is not so easy.  Its always interesting to see how quickly the absolutists revise their positions when they are directly affected and having to make the difficult choices about their own families. 
     So thanks again for the article.  I hope you explore these subjects further as this dialogue is long overdue in the body politic.  We seem to avoid it because it is just too difficult.  But every little bit helps.

 

Nisi R. from California writes ... 

   Just read your article, "Switching Sides on the Death Penalty"...first time I have read an article on the death penalty that touched me. I have always been adamantly opposed to the death penalty; like you, I was appalled by the Supreme Court's recent decision to exclude the rape of a child to the consequences of the death penalty. Hits a chord perhaps that only a mother can respond to....your article spoke volumes!

 

     DD note: the following reader is from Italy and while I have tidied up the punctuation a bit I wanted to leave the grammer as is so the passion comes through ....

 

Paolo De Falco from Naples, Italy writes ...

     The main reason why everybody should always be against capital punishement is that if there is a judical error and an innocent man is convitcted and then executed. You can NEVER anymore come back from that, and THAT is simply atrocius , one SINGLE innocent person executed would ipos facto justify the immediate abolishement of (the) death penalty. Now,not only that has certainly already taken place in (the) US but more, in genera,l this kind of penalty carries with it this risk and only its abolition makes impossible such an atrocious possiblty.  In the case of Lousiana the men can be guilty but that is not the point. The point is that these people can be guilty but others in the future might be innocent,  ... The possibility to have a juidicial error that could never be redressed is indeed the main reason but there are as you know a thousand others, not least of whch is..how comes according to you that the US is the only western country in the world to still have death penalty?  How comes that each single, europen country (Russia aside , of course ) has abolished (the) death penalty!? How comes that you are closer to China and Iran than to Europe ; Canada; Australia, New Zealand all of the south american democracies (even one with higher murder rates like Brazil )..how comes that it took a decision from the US supreme court to abolish capital punishment for the minors and mentally retarded? I mean something OBVIOUS in every civilized country but not in (the) US where it took a decison of a civilized court to do what the laws didn't do? How comes that America is so that it can't be cilivized like the rest of the western world or indeed of some of the US states too, like Michigan that abolished death penalty much earlier that the rest of the western world.

 

C.J. writes ... (yes, all in caps)

   ANYONE WHO WOULD DO THIS TO A CHILD DESERVE NOTHING LESS THAN DEATH. I THINK RAPE OF ANYONE OR MURDER SHOULD GET DEATH. 

 

Judi writes ...

I'm glad your head keeps screaming. 
for some time now i've thought of ruth bader ginsburg
as a traitor to women and children.

i've been very upset about the ruling.

"them wot makes dah rules ots to have more smarts

or at least human feelings."

 

Ralph L. from Maryland writes ...

     Your column has become critical reading to me and a number of my colleagues.

     I personally have always been for the Death Penalty. Having witnessed countless capital trials, and witnessing a lethal injection, has only secured my belief in the ultimate punishment.

     To see daily what those inmates who carry that penalty do inside the prison would change anyone who is on the fence about such penalties. The fact that the Supreme Court to me devalued the innocence of our youths only added to the imbalance of the scale of lady justice. The years of fear, mistrust and mental problems endured by the victim can't compare to the years the inmate and his family enjoy while he waits for an execution that, in this day and time, might not come (except if it's Texas).

      I always stated, the wasted money , the years that it takes , streamline the appeal process and spend the money saved on the young people it could help before they become part of the system.

 

Peter from Albuquerque writes ...

     So many of use were violated by Catholic priests.  Not only did we lose our "ability to trust, to love, to find intimacy," but we also lost our spirituality after being "touched by God's representatives."
     The death sentence is too easy.  I say hand them over to the prisoners.
 

Dan H. from California writes ...

     As I explained to my Marine Corps friend, Danny Dober, the Supreme has really made the right decision (for all of the wrong reasons).
As a prison insider, I can tell you that justice for child murderers and rapist is far swifter then that of the courts.
     Let's say a child rapist gets the death penalty. He then goes to death row, where he is isolated from other prisoners, gets all kind of legal aid, good food and exercise, and continues to appeal his case for about twenty years.
     Now, let's take that same scumbag and give him a life sentence. He then goes into the general prison population, and the death sentence is carried out by his fellow prisoners in about twenty minutes.

Joseph S. from New Mexico writes ...

     Nothing to be ashamed about and as for "Anger", well it is that noble feeling that comes upon us humans when we observe an injustice.  The Supreme Court has made decisions, as have the Legislative and Executive Branches of government, that are curious to say the least.

     Keep up the good work.

Harry H. from New Mexico writes ....

    Having grown up on Chicago's South side and know(ing) one of the seven nurses that Richard Speck viciously murdered, back in the '60's, I'm pleased when an educated person comes to their senses over capitol issues; That being said, just as no one ever really wants to go to war, I do not believe anyone in their right mind wants to execute a just human being but a vicious criminal is yet another matter!!  By the way, I was once informed, by a Jewish Rabbi, that "Thou Shall Not Kill" was mistranslated from the ancient Hebrew and should have translated into old English or German to read: Thou Shall not Murder... !  

    I might also add that while the so called "rule of law" is not perfect it's all we have at present and modern execution practices, such as lethal injection, are tame when compared to the execution of a traitor in 13th century England!!  Maybe you can explain in some future column why we, as a civilized nation, should maintain the life of a vicious criminal knowing full well that this individual SHOULD never return to society yet there is an entire industry that makes lucrative profits off the extermination of the unborn...?