The death penalty is the longest-running human spectacle.
Remember when it was simple? I long for days of yore when you gave the accused a 10 minute trial, passed judgment, and you took the wife and kids to town square where you watched the condemned shot, hung, drawn and quartered, burned, buried alive, crucified, crushed, decapitated, disembowled, dismembered, drowned, stabbed, stoned or broken at the wheel and then went for tea afterwards. Sugar optional.
In our civilized times of improvised explosive devices and cruise missiles, such public spectacles have fallen by the wayside. Only those associated with the killing go to see executions these days. No longer do you take the kids to see someone hang; you take them to playgrounds. Swings and slides have replaced ropes and axes and a crowd’s feverish cheer. What an age we live in.
For the last hundred years or so, guilt has motivated the government to move towards humane execution. Electrocution became humane, and then gas chambers, and currently we have lethal injection, but even that is being challenged. The criteria for cruel and unusual punishment keeps shifting so rapidly, who knows where we’ll end up next? So far, it keeps falling; perhaps it will swing in the other direction. Ten years from now, crucifixion may make a triumphant return. Or it may not, as current trends see a movement further and further away from capital punishment.
Not that the death penalty lacks support. Despite all the changes, one constant remains: People enjoy seeing others they perceive as morally bankrupt die. It satisfies their need for balance in the world and their need for justice.
Never underestimate the lengths a person will go to convince others that they are noble and altruistic. For example, outrage at killings. Following the Virginia Tech shooting and the Chris Benoit double-murder and suicide, there was an initial backlash at the acts themselves. You could not go five seconds without hearing someone moan about how horrible the actions were and how we are all Hokies. Today. What about yesterday? Tomorrow? Almost a year after the shooting, are we still Hokies? I thought not. Why not give your stupid, meaningless slogans a rest? Stop pretending to care about them when all you care about is yourselves, OK?
And while we’re on the topic, can you cut out the Facebook prayer groups as well? “Look at me! I care about others! Aren’t I a great person!” No. You’re not. I can snap my fingers and pour orange juice on my head and it will have the same effect on any tragedy as your prayers. Practically speaking, it will actually accomplish something: I’ll have wet hair. You, on the other hand, you’ll still be alone in your room. With dry hair.
But back to the murders, following the initial backlash, a second form arrived, this one directed at the dead killers themselves. It occurs all the time. Whenever a high-profile killer is either executed or kills himself before capture, listen for a while. You are bound to hear any of the following:
“He’s burning in hell,” “He’s getting his,” “He’s answering to a true judge,” and “He’s finally where he belongs.”
Meaningless, empty reassurances designed to help them cope with a world in which often the bad guys win. Instead of acknowledging the nature of the world, they trick themselves into believing that justice is being served in order to alleviate depression in a world of brutality.
It’s basically an upgraded version of “Doggie Heaven.” There is no Hell for him to burn in. He committed murder, and nothing can change that, a fact that doesn’t please them as much as the prospect of him suffering eternal torment does. Yes, innocent people are dead … but the killer is in our mythological realm of punishment. Delusions put smiles on faces. The truth doesn’t. Which one is more appealing?
The fun goes further. Or backwards, as with death row inmates; before the killer is fried, you hear “He deserves to die” and “I hope someone does it to him. See how he likes it.”
Once again, we see the same basic themes, except here the truth of “no justice” seems to be more acknowledged. These people are a tad bit closer to reality then their friends mentioned above, but their belief in fairy tales endures. They merely cope in a different manner.
The system for death sentencing is extremely flawed. Outside pressures, both political and public, play a large role, as does the structure of current laws. The biggest problem is the prospect that, due to the imperfections in the system, innocent people can face execution.
I actually brought this up to a death penalty supporter one time, and they had this to say in response: “Well … it’s worth it to keep murderers off the streets.”
Let’s say you’re the innocent man walking the last mile. Would it be worth it then? Idiot. And if you want to keep murderers “off the streets,” I present a simple, yet effective, solution: Don’t parole them.
See? Problem solved. If you don’t want convicted murderers loose in society, then don’t set them loose. It’s a mind-killer, for sure, but take however much time you need to wrap your mind around it.
Given current medical advances, I can wait until about 2088. Probably not enough time. You’d better get a move on.
— Travis Lee is a senior in French. He can be reached at [email protected].
