McVeigh. Gone, but soon forgotten
>>For as liberal as I am, I believe in the death penalty. I see it more as revenge, then justice. I know that is not the way to think of it, but I would want revenge if a loved one of mine died.<<
But, it should not be the role or privilege of a truly civilized society to arrogate to itself an act of vengeance on anyone. Naturally, the survivors of any victim of murder -- especially cold-blooded, premeditated murder -- would want revenge. But, to reduce the system of law (and hopefully justice) in this country to the level of legally-sanctioned lynching does not speak well for us. One need look no farther than the numbers of recent death-row exonerations by DNA evidence to see why.
The underlying principle of any purportedly fair system for meting out justice is that society, as a whole, is sufficiently morally superior to any individual that society has the moral right to judge. But, parallel to that principle must be the moral recognition that all human systems are susceptible to human fallibility. Morally, if a state, acting in the name of all its citizens, executes someone who is later positively exonerated by new evidence, then by that act the state can be said to have entered into a conspiracy with its citizens to commit the most coldly premeditated form of murder there can be. When all are guilty, who can be said to be truly innocent?
However, having said all that, it nonetheless remains that what McVeigh undeniably did was an act of such monstrous depravity that a special punishment is called for. Against the possibility that executing him will give the lunatic right-wing fringe groups a martyr, must be considered the probability that such groups, by their very nature, might mount an attempt to break him out at some time in the future, were he not to be executed. Even if such an attempt would fail (which, given the mentality of such groups and the resources of the federal government, it surely would), the mere attempt would glorify McVeigh all over again, and possibly even add to his death toll. I admit, though, to the fantasy of imagining McVeigh in a windowless cell, with nothing much to read but religious or legal texts, exercising in a windowless, roofed yard where the sun does not enter, with absolutely no human contact except for an occasional visit by an attorney or clergyman, writing to no one but family members and then only once a month, for the rest of his life.
>>Guess I'm not a good sentencing judge, either.<<
Don't feel too bad, Sassy -- most sentencing judges probably aren't very good, either.
