# Should Timothy McVeigh be executed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 12, 2001, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-timothy-mcveigh-be-executed/49622 "2001-01-12T02:05:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-timothy-mcveigh-be-executed/49622/41 "2001-01-19T10:45:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*I’ll go for a compromise. Lock him up for life, in a room with a bomb that has a timer set to go off randomly sometime between now and 50 years from now. Just for yucks, once in a while it should emit a big click and a whirring sound. > > \*\* This kinda reminds me of the way they executed prisoners in Russia for a while. They are locked in their cell, and at a later, unscheduled time a guard shoots them through the slot in the door. They have no way of knowing when they will be shot, every time they go to sleep there is the possibility they will be awakened by a bullet tearing through their flesh, every time they hear someone walk up to their cell they have to anticipate being killed. ---
**Author:** ![zuma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9c0ed/32.png) [@zuma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zuma)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-timothy-mcveigh-be-executed/49622/42 "2001-01-19T11:32:27Z")
i don’t even need to read the OP to answer this. yes, he should die. i’m a liberal democrat who supports to death penalty where appropriate. he committed the ultimate crime, and should pay the ultimate price for it. i don’t care that this is his wish. the sooner he leaves this earth the better. ---
**Author:** ![BunnyGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BunnyGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyGirl)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-timothy-mcveigh-be-executed/49622/43 "2001-01-19T15:18:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Main Entry: jus·tice > Pronunciation: 'j&s-t&s > Function: noun > Etymology: Middle English, from Old English & Old French; Old English > justice, from Old French justice, from Latin justitia, from justus > Date: 12th century > 1 a : the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the > impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or \*\*the assignment of merited > rewards or punishments \*\* b : JUDGE c : the administration of law; > especially : the establishment or determination of rights according to the > rules of law or equity > 2 a : the quality of being just, impartial, or fair b (1) : the principle or > ideal of just dealing or right action (2) : conformity to this principle or > ideal : RIGHTEOUSNESS c : the quality of conforming to law > 3 : conformity to truth, fact, or reason : CORRECTNESS Bolding mine. I support the death penalty in cases where there is no doubt that the person committed the crime. > [@](#): > > It is wrong for the government to kill, no matter how heinous the crime. From the link to Bud Welch. I have to say this is bullshit, Bud (excuse my language). I would agree with this in most cases, but when an act has been perpetrated on the scale that McVeigh performed, we have an obligation to perform justice. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-timothy-mcveigh-be-executed/49622/44 "2001-01-19T17:25:27Z")
> [@](#): > > From the link to Bud Welch. > I have to say this is bullshit, Bud (excuse my language). I would agree with this in most cases, but when an act has been perpetrated on the scale that McVeigh performed, we have an obligation to perform justice. > > \*\* I’m not sure about why you included a definition of “justice” in your post…or state that we, as a society must “perform justice” in the McVeigh case. Is there anyone (much less any poster here) who has stated that justice should not be applied to McVeigh? I believe that the debate is over what FORM of justice should be applied. And other than vengeance, I guess I didn’t see a rationale for the death penalty (for McVeigh) in your post. ---
**Author:** ![BunnyGirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BunnyGirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyGirl)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-timothy-mcveigh-be-executed/49622/45 "2001-01-19T19:38:01Z")
Sorry, beagle, didn’t mean to be confusing nor did I mean to be rude - the whole topic, for some reason, got my ire up. Anyway, I put the definition of justice in there because I felt it applied (“the application of merited rewards or punishments”) in this case: what McVeigh did merits the most harsh punishment the Government, as the enforcer of laws and justice, can give. To me, this is death. I don’t believe any other punishment could suffice. And as for Bud’s quote, I disagree with him. Not that I think the Government should be free and easy with the death sentence, but in the case of something as heinous and unconsciouable as his act, I think they need to mete out their harshest punishment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-timothy-mcveigh-be-executed/49622.md?page=2)