Two Quotes

[shadowkat]

"And sometimes it's the very otherness of a stranger, someone who doesn't belong to our ethnic or ideological or religious group, an otherness that can repel us initially, but which can jerk us out of our habitual selfishness, and give us intonations of that sacred otherness, which is God."
-Karen Armstrong


Right now, many of you are saying "If it were your loved one murdered by Muhammad [the Wash DC sniper who recently was executed in DC by lethal injection], you'd feel differently." While that is probably true, it is hardly the point. If I were personally connected to such a tragedy, I would be craving vengeance rather than justice. I would not be my best self. I would not have the moral clarity to make or impose justice. And I would hope that someone would have the courage and character to demand more from me, and from our society. Without such intervention, we would all fail to realize our full moral potential.

- Marc Lamont Hill, Columbia University Professor - columnist in NY Metro.

[Mr. Hill states earlier in the column the following: "While many have celebrated the execution, I am left with a profound sense of sadness and disappointment at our continued use of the death penalty -- rather than life in prison -- as a form of justice. Like most humans, I struggle to find any sympathy for Muhammad. Instead my heart goes out to the 13 innocent people murdered or wounded by Muhammad, as well as the millions of citizens who were placed in a 20-day state of terror because of the heartless assassin. Still, I refuse to allow my moral outrage to degenerate into rage and bloodlust.

While some focus on the moral dimensions of the death penalty per se, I make no such arguement. In all honesty, I remain conflicted about whether "an eye for an eye" justice has a rightful place in a civilized society. No, my concerns are far more pragmatic. How can a nation with such a deeply flawed criminal justice system feel comfortable doling out the most extreme and irreversible punishment imaginable? How can we continue to use state-sanctioned murder as a crime deterrent when all evidence says that it doesn't work? While the Muhammad case is a clear-cut instance of guilt, our laws must reflect the broad range of death penalty cases that are far more circumstantial and murky."]

Comments

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

What amazes me the most, some days - is that the people who most loudly proclaim that they don't trust the government to tax us trust the government to know who to kill.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yep. I remember a friend and I getting into a discussion in law school with a libertarian who was for the death penalty - which is a bit of an oxymoron.

We asked, if you don't trust the government to regulate guns, asking for taxes, or health care - why would you trust the government to choose who to kill? And why as a law student would you trust a lawyer to choose a jury to determin who to kill or when to do it?

Logically and financially speaking the death penalty makes no sense. It costs more than housing someone for life - I know I did the cost-benefit analysis in law school. (Reason is you have to set up separate housing, hire people to operate the killing device, buy the device, maintain the device, make sure the device meets humane requirements, get licensed people to operate the device, hire guards for the separate housing, hire lawyers to handle the appeals process, feed the people on death row which have to be isolated from the other prisoners...the escalating costs of the death penalty almost bankrupt the state of Kansas in 2008. This amuses me to no end - since Kansas ignored the cost-benefit analysis I did and the Senator presented along with others done by reputable firms in 1994 when they chose to reinstate the death penalty. )

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

Unremarked earlier:

Your libertarian friend probably views taxes and government as things that are taken from successful, deserving (and mostly white) people, to then be spent inefficiently (though he'd object even if it was efficient) on services for poor, undeserving (and brown) people. He probably also presumes the death penalty is applied to deserving people - who happen to mostly be uneducated, indigent (and often brown). So, there's some unspoken consistency.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Possibly. Here's his profile or what I remember, this was in 1992-1994, and I haven't seen or spoken to him since then. The law school classmate was 40 years old.
From Rural Southwestern Kansas outside of Wichita, living then near Lawrence, Kansas. Lower middle-class. Over 300 pounds and about 5'9. A Gun dealer. Married. And had lived in Kansas his entire life, never been anywhere else. The black or minorities he'd seen were mostly in law school and more privileged than himself or in Kansas City and far far less privileged - ie. living in the projects and hand to mouth.

Kansas typically has a low percentage of minority - and I doubt he knew many outside of tv and/or the few in law school.

So I doubt it was conscious racism. I do remember in the Senate floor when they were debating the death penalty, a black senator brought up the racial profiling that occurs and how the majority of people convicted for the death penalty are minorities specifically under felony-murder (e.g - bank robberies ending in accidental shooting/death). He was not wrong.

That said, I have a black friend who thinks of herself as a libertarian who is pro-death penalty. (shrugs).

[candleanfeather.livejournal.com]

Heard yesterday that Russia de facto abolished by prolongating sine die its moratorium on death penalties. It always saddens me when reading some article about death penalty in the world, the USA appear next the names of other countries not precisely known for the respect of human rights.

I greatly appreciate your quotes, its a refreshing change from declarations of people who seem to think that what they would personally do or want if one of their relatives was murdered makes the idea of exacting revenge on the murderer OK. I agree with this man, if something of the sort happened to my family I'd probably be mad with grief and bloodthirsty, because I'm not better than anybody, but I well hope somebody would there to put some reason back in me and stop me from falling so low.