MORAL ISSUES                        ~ WARNING ~ EXPLICT PICTURES
The Death Penalty | Thanks to the slated execution date of convicted mass murderer Michael Ross, the Connecticut Legislature has been holding hearings on the death penalty, and it's use in that state | Many have spoken eloquently about how, by executing Ross, the families of his victims could finally have "closure" | Now, if by "closure" we're talking about replacing the emptiness in one's heart due to the loss of that loved one ~ it never actually comes to pass | Personally, I'm skeptical about the whole concept of "closure" preferring to believe that survivors of traumatic events [including the murder of a loved one] need to come to some personal point of resolution and go on with their lives | The dead can never be replaced | The debate of what to do with Michael Ross on behalf of the victims' families continues |
     But that debate is not about any individual convicted killer, such as Michael Ross | The debate is about Society's tolerance of taking the life of another and the belief that execution can be used as a means of setting an example to others who might kill their fellow citizens | And it is an important matter to weigh carefully |
     I listened to the debates, via Connecticut Network and found them compelling | While most of the speakers asked to abolish the death penalty, those few who spoke in favor were dispassionate and seemed rational about their conclusions | Some had arcane ~ even twisted beliefs; like that of the pastor of the Fairfield [CT] United Methodist Church who was insistent in stating he thought it would be acceptable [if not preferable] to subject someone to total solitary confinement while in restraints instead of having them executed | His rationale was that the killer might eventually experience "redemption" and ought be allowed to live for that day to come | The good Pastor might want to review what is recognized as contemporary forms of torture before positing such an absurd notion | Then again, maybe he considers torture "quaint" |
     My own opinion on the death penalty has long been fluid | Although I go to work every day and interact with some incarcerated folks I know to be unrepentant killers, I've never been rigid in my thinking on the subject ~ pro or con | Since I work with folks deemed "insane," some of those who have killed that I've gotten to know seem truly remorseful, even tormented inside | Others ~ the real killers ~ remain indifferent ~ even offended ~ that Society has locked them up | Some of this latter group spend much of their free time trying to determine how they can convice the Courts to make ruling in their favor and issue a habeus motion release, however convoluted the motion's legal logic might be |
     I have to be honest and say my opinions of the killers' seems to vary depending on where each of them falls within these different stances | For those who are tormented I have more compassion ~ even if they aren't ever going to be released | But for the reptilian cold-blooded ones, I end up wondering whether we aren't wasting the cash to keep them alive a quarter century or more |
     I believe that putting someone in solitary confinement for years on end is cruel + unusual punishment, no matter how henious the crime they committed | We ought not be committing crimes ourselves to punish known criminals |      Actually, the practice that some cultures have, of requiring those who kill to literally replace the role the victims had in society, has, for some cases, some appeal to me | Society ought to make use of whatever skills and abilities of those life-sentenced killers to in some way [however small] repay their social debts | Locking them up 24-7 in near total isolation does not accomplish this |
     There is one other matter | This is that the killer is not the only one "sentenced" for his [or her] crime | The arguements on both sides of capital punishment have not, thus far, attempted to speak to this, much less address it | The impact and effect upon those assigned to being one of the watchers of those sentenced must also be taken into account | For once a murderer starts doing time, those most directly affected are we who stand guard with those killers | Watching and working with unrepentant murderers has profound moral/social/ethical/psychic/spiritual overtones | I say this as one of those more closely so connected | Yet that's not on the discussion table at all | And it needs to be | Because I can tell you, being one of the watchers can be a pretty frikking weird experience | And Society has a huge moral debt to those whom the rest of you have assigned these onorous duties |  ¶ 14:45