Twenty five years ago

[MadHound]

Twenty five years ago a young woman, a childhood friend as dear to me as my own sister, was brutally beaten, raped and murdered. Twenty five years ago, our family(my family intermingled with her family) drove this bright promising young woman up to Iowa City, so she could attend the University of Iowa. Three weeks later, she was dead, dead at the hands of a neighbor who lived just a few doors down.

At the time I was, and still am, against the death penalty. But her brutal murder shook me to the core. I didn't want state sanctioned murder, I wanted to be given five minutes alone in a locked room with her murderer. I fully, viscerally understood the blood hate, the need for revenge, the call for blood justice for the victim, my dear sweet friend.

But at the time, Iowa didn't have the death penalty, and as my blood lust cooled, I recognized that was a good thing. Not that her murderer didn't deserve death, but rather my friend's life shouldn't be tarnished with the death of another human being, no matter how despicable it was. And I, I didn't need to add the weight of his blood on my hands to the grief that I still carry.

Her murderer is securely locked up in the Iowa State Penitentiary, where he will remain for the rest of his life. I know that his life is not a pleasant one, and that is justice. He will have no chance to rape or murder another young woman. Perhaps he will even change himself, better himself, but I really don't care. He is nothing to me now, irrelevant to all the good memories I have of my dear friend.

My convictions concerning the death penalty went through a trial by fire, but emerged in the end more solid than ever. The death penalty is wrong, it is nothing more than state sanctioned murder, and as Ghandi once said, an eye for an eye soon makes the whole world blind. My family and I are not blind, we still have clear visions of our dear sister, and celebrate her life free from the taint of the barbaric justice of the death penalty.

No matter the case, no matter the situation, however heinous, the death penalty is wrong. It is a blemish on the life of the victim, and a blood burden upon all of us. And as we see with the case of Troy Davis and others, there are far too many times when the blood of innocents is added to the burden that we as a nation carry.

It is time to stop this brutal practice, to fulfill our potential as a truly wise, compassionate, and just nation.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. Well said. nt

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. My dear MadHound...

I weep for the loss of your dear friend ...

And I agree with what you have so compellingly said here today. It is a brutal practice, and one that needs to be stopped, now, forever...

Perhaps your eloquent words will help change some minds today...

:hug:

[SCantiGOP]

3. very well said

I struggled with the concept when Sirhan Sirhan killed not just a man, but the hope of a nation and most likely a very different future than what has transpired. It was a struggle to not want to see him executed.

[hedgehog]

5. Sirhan Sirhan is an argument against capital punishment.

Buried in all the conspiracy theories about Dallas is the fact that there are questions about what happened in LA. There are suggestions that someone took advantage of Sirhan Sirhan's gun fire to quietly fire the shot that killed RFK, or that RFK was shot by someone aiming at Sirhan. Physical evidence from the scene went "missing".

The odds that at this date Sirhan gets questioned and the case re-examined are just about nil.I don't think there is any question that he tried to kill RFK. But the fact that he is still alive gives us the opportunity to ask questions. The fact that he goes before a parole board every so often means that the case is not forgotten.

[dtexdem]

4. And the truly horrible cases, where I and others say "I oppose the death penalty but here" --

that's precisely why the death penalty should not exist. I salute your cooling of your "blood lust."

[frazzled]

6. You make an important distinction

Your very human (and rightful) emotional reaction to this heinous crime and the loss of your friend was a very natural reaction. Both murder and revenge arise out of the human condition, in all its beauty and terror.

The state, however, is not human. It is an institution. Justice on the part of the state should not be based on human emotions of revenge or retaliation. Justice, dispassionate (blind) justice, means righting and protecting society. Taking another life should not be in its purview.

I hope that the tragic events of last night--and I speak for both Troy Davis and the despicable murderer of James Byrd--will solidify a movement to abolish the death penalty in more states or even federally. I believe the Catholic church and other religions might take a lead in this movement in the way they did during the civil rights era. I hope it has opened a lot of eyes.

[immoderate]

7. And all the appeals and rituals serve to sanctify the barbarity.

A civilization should want to set a standard that killing is wrong, even though individual human emotions might demand revenge.

The response is to create a huge ritualized civil-religious spectacle where the savages can remind the population of their primitive instincts. Priests and magistrates can officiate, bless the victim, bless the executioner, the audience, and themselves.

"Oh guide our hands, as we throw the switch, that pumps a cocktail of lethal chemicals into the veins of the victim of our inconsistency!"

This should not be the peak experience of our society.

--imm