No, I wouldn’t so limit it. Is that really your objection?
Justice Scalia is OK with that.
The quotation marks on *actually *are his own.
Well, we can’t very well execute a multiple murderer twice.
Of course then there are those people who were killed by a criminal who would have been killed by convicted murders had they not been executed.
Of course your experience is somewhat different from what goes on in the case of convicted killers. It isn’t just reading in the newspaper, “Oh, he’s dead”. First there is the trail, then there is the sentencing hearing, then there is the appeal, then there are a number of delaying actions and appeals, then there is the appeal to the governor for clemancy, then there is the media coverage of the controversy over the execution, then finally the execution. So over the decades it takes to go from conviction to death, the issue will keep popping up and forcing you to give it your attention.
I fortunately have never had to deal with anything like this, and if I had I may feel differently, but personally I would rather see the time to put him behind me as the day he was sent off to rot in prison, then spend a decade or longer of him periodically being brought into my foreground.
No. My real objection is people trying to pretend that they are wanting the death penalty as some sort of favor for the person being killed.
The state where I live did away with the death penalty just a few years before my daughters death , so even when he turned his self in and charges were brought against him . This state also seems to be pretty easy on DWI that causes death , one guy killed a whole family while drunk and driving on a suspended licenses , plus he already had several DWI convictions , he got less then a decade and was out in less then five years for good time . So I wasn’t expecting much of anything just because the guy had turned his self in and had confessed to being the driver that had caused her death .
The only reason I posted here in this thread was to give a bit of reality to the two posters that were going back and forth about the families of victims and closure . Since my state doesn’t have the death penalty anymore, It really doesn’t matter if I am for or against it .
But for the record , I’m 100 % in favor of the death penalty in cases of child rape/ molestation / murder and serials killers .
Well, you’re in luck!
If someone borrows a book from the library, and we announce that he can keep it for a couple of weeks but will start incurring a fine if he keeps it longer – well, look, if he asks whether we’re applying that fine as some sort of favor to him, I’ll blink in surprise and reply that, er, no; we’re not; what an odd thing to say.
Step into a boxing ring with me, and touch gloves, and – well, I’d start hitting you, because, hey, that’s the deal, right? If I wanted to do you a favor, I guess dropping my guard and letting you hit me would qualify – but if I don’t feel like doing you a favor, I’ll just start doing my level best to win the fight.
If I put up a sign that says TRESPASSERS WILL BE PROSECUTED, and you decide to trespass, the ensuing prosecution isn’t meant as a favor to you. And et cetera. Dunno where you got the idea it’s meant as a favor, but if that’s your real objection, consider it gone.
Good-That means we won’t have to deal with any more of that “assisted suicide” euphemistic crap anymore.
I wasn’t aware that it’s a euphemism. We refer, straightforwardly, to “suicide by cop”; if some criminal wants to commit “suicide by me”, I’d shrug and, y’know, assist.
Both of these are examples of what people may feel *before *an execution. I do agree with you that people *anticipate *closure. I don’t think you’ve demonstrated that most (or all) feel such closure when it’s actually done.
A recent study has found that they don’t:
Which is congruent with a 2007 study: