# DC Sniper to be executed tonight **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 10, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078 "2009-11-10T18:54:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/1 "2009-11-10T18:54:59Z")
[http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091110/ap\_on\_re\_us/us\_sniper\_execution](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091110/ap_on_re_us/us_sniper_execution) I posted here because it will devolve into a capital punishment debate, and it should. I can’t think of a more worthwhile candidate in my lifetime for Virginia’s needle. And in only seven years? That’s pretty efficient for the U.S. He committed his crimes in 2002. Florida has death row inmates from the 1970s. That being said, God have mercy on his soul, but justice is being done and this is the right thing. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/2 "2009-11-10T19:20:48Z")
From a rational standpoint, I’m against the death penalty- after all, if you screw up and have the wrong guy in the gallows, there are no take-backs. Better to let a hundred murderers live than to kill one innocent man. However, from an emotional standpoint, I say let the guy (metaphorically) hang. The idea of this guy appealing his execution is particularly galling, considering how many innocent people he killed. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/3 "2009-11-10T19:28:49Z")
> [@Lightnin](#): > > Better to let a hundred murderers live than to kill one innocent man. The current governor of Texas [may disagree with you on this point](http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/01/texas.execution.probe/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/4 "2009-11-10T19:30:36Z")
I’m against the death penalty purely for distrust of authority reasons so in cases such as this when culpability is not in question i see no problems with it. ---
**Author:** ![Cort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/77aa72/32.png) [@Cort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cort)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/5 "2009-11-10T20:00:51Z")
I plan to wait for some shaky cameraphone footage of the execution to leak onto the internet, then I’m gonna masturbate to it all night wearing a pinwheel hat. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/6 "2009-11-10T20:02:19Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091110/ap\_on\_re\_us/us\_sniper\_execution](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091110/ap_on_re_us/us_sniper_execution) > > I posted here because it will devolve into a capital punishment debate, and it should. I can’t think of a more worthwhile candidate in my lifetime for Virginia’s needle. And in only seven years? That’s pretty efficient for the U.S. He committed his crimes in 2002. Florida has death row inmates from the 1970s. > > That being said, God have mercy on his soul, but justice is being done and this is the right thing. Will you be safer tomorrow than you were yesterday? If so, how so? If not, the execution serves no purpose. How about you show a little mercy on his soul and leave him alive in jail? No skin off your nose, right? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/7 "2009-11-10T20:02:54Z")
> [@Cort](#): > > I plan to wait for some shaky cameraphone footage of the execution to leak onto the internet, then I’m gonna masturbate to it all night wearing a pinwheel hat. And then I will masturbate to shaky camera footage of you masturbating in that sexy pinwheel hat. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/8 "2009-11-10T20:03:59Z")
I’d honestly rather see him rot in prison for the rest of his life, being used as a fuck toy by a big hairy guy named Bubba. Hopefully to have a VERY long life to contemplate what he did. -XT ---
**Author:** ![Taenia\_spp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@Taenia\_spp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taenia_spp)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/9 "2009-11-10T20:05:14Z")
I agree with other posters here. I’m generally against capital punishment, but in this particular case there is no ambiguity about who committed the crimes, no procedural mishaps, the crimes were particularly heinous, etc. This state-sponsored death pings no part of my sympathy module. Crap, I think I’ve given away my true nature. I’m human, I tell ya! ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/10 "2009-11-10T20:07:45Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > Will you be safer tomorrow than you were yesterday? If so, how so? If not, the execution serves no purpose. How about you show a little mercy on his soul and leave him alive in jail? No skin off your nose, right? I won’t be safer tomorrow than I was yesterday. Doesn’t matter, though. It’s about justice. He took many lives; now he must forfeit his own. I think if more states had the Virginia system that can go from conviction to execution in 7 years, the death penalty might begin to act as a deterrent. We certainly need to make sure we aren’t executing an innocent person, but can’t we do that in less than 20+ years like it takes California? That system seems almost pointless. I see it sometimes “John Smith was executed by lethal injection today for the 1986 rape and murder of…” and I’m thinking, 1986? The man was a different person then. I was a kid living at home with mom and dad. It makes no sense, for justice or otherwise to wait that damned long. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/11 "2009-11-10T20:09:49Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > I’d honestly rather see him rot in prison for the rest of his life, being used as a fuck toy by a big hairy guy named Bubba. Hopefully to have a VERY long life to contemplate what he did. > > -XT I’ve seen this argument before, and I ask this: What if he loves rough prison sex? What if sitting in his cell thinking about his crimes makes him, not remorseful, but arrogant and proud. He loves the 3 hots and a cot. Would that change your opinion of the life in prison sentence? ---
**Author:** ![oboelady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8491ac/32.png) [@oboelady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oboelady)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/12 "2009-11-10T20:11:15Z")
Please help cure my ignorance. I’ve never been able to find a religion that says, Thou shalt not kill, unless you’re the government. How can any religious person be in favor of the death penalty? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/13 "2009-11-10T20:12:35Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > I can’t think of a more worthwhile candidate in my lifetime for Virginia’s needle. Good for you, **jtgain**. I hope you win the “Guy I Said Deserved to Die is Dead” prize, for all the difference it’s going to make to you. ---
**Author:** ![Cort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/77aa72/32.png) [@Cort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cort)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/14 "2009-11-10T20:19:24Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > And then I will masturbate to shaky camera footage of you masturbating in that sexy pinwheel hat. It is a _very_ sexy hat. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/15 "2009-11-10T20:30:14Z")
> [@oboelady](#): > > Please help cure my ignorance. I’ve never been able to find a religion that says, Thou shalt not kill, unless you’re the government. > How can any religious person be in favor of the death penalty? Well, I cannot speak to all religions but depends which part of Christianity you want to apply here. > [@](#): > > The phrase “an eye for an eye”, Hebrew: עין תחת עין, ayin tahat ayin, is a quotation from several passages of the Bible (Leviticus 24:19–21, Exodus 21:22–25, and Deuteronomy 19:21) in which a person who has injured the eye of another is instructed to give his or her own eye in compensation. At the root of this principle is that one of the purposes of the law is to provide equitable retribution for an offended party. It defined and restricted the extent of retribution in the laws of the Old Testament. > > SOURCE: [Eye for an eye - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_for_an_eye) So the Bible in those passages demands a life for a life. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/16 "2009-11-10T20:39:13Z")
> [@oboelady](#): > > Please help cure my ignorance. I’ve never been able to find a religion that says, Thou shalt not kill, unless you’re the government. > How can any religious person be in favor of the death penalty? Actually, my religion does say just this - although the catechism then specifies that as a practical matter the Church leadership believes executions aren’t needed anymore to administer justice. The admonition in the Ten Commandments is generally understood as an injunction against murder. Now, not all killings are murder. Going to war isn’t murder, a justifiable homicide committed by a policeman in the line of duty isn’t murder and whatever we may debate about the death penalty, we do not define it as murder. And my faith does draw careful distinctions here. I think you will find that most Christian denominations agree with this construction even if they disagree about the morality of the death penalty. They cannot just define it as murder and dismiss it - that is too simplistic an answer to a rather profound question concerning state power and personal responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/17 "2009-11-10T20:49:13Z")
I’m not a big fan of the death penalty, but I was in the DC area when this guy was driving around shooting innocents, I will not protest his leaving. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/18 "2009-11-10T20:55:43Z")
> [@oboelady](#): > > Please help cure my ignorance. I’ve never been able to find a religion that says, Thou shalt not kill, unless you’re the government. > How can any religious person be in favor of the death penalty? Your first mistake was assuming there’s a lot of religions people here. Some, but certainly not a majority. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/19 "2009-11-10T20:58:06Z")
> [@oboelady](#): > > Please help cure my ignorance. I’ve never been able to find a religion that says, Thou shalt not kill, unless you’re the government. > How can any religious person be in favor of the death penalty? You will find a number of commandments in the Bible which state, in no uncertain terms, that both individuals and the state are expected and required to kill under some circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078/20 "2009-11-10T21:01:25Z")
As a devout Catholic and a Virginian I’m wholly against the death penalty and against this execution. I think to a large degree one of the most difficult things is to forgive this kind of action. However, I think that is the most cathartic approach, and I also think that it is not good for society for the government to be putting its citizens to death. I’m often reminded of the [Amish response](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_School_Shooting#Amish_response_with_forgiveness) to the Amish School House shooting in Pennsylvania; that’s an excellent example of a community expressing an almost unimaginable amount of forgiveness for a criminal. That’s a good model for anyone, religious or not. I will say that I’m totally in support of punishing crime, and do think Muhammad should be punished, it just isn’t the place of the state to enact _this_ punishment. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dc-sniper-to-be-executed-tonight/517078.md?page=2)