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<p>So you can see all the shades of gray when it comes to being against the death penalty but you cannot see any shades of gray when it comes to the death of a human being by another person? As far as you can see, our troops who drop bombs or shoot their weapons are murderers just the same as the man in this story. </p>
<p>I strongly disagree with that.</p>
<p>I can’t even open and read something so gruesome. But I got the gist.</p>
<p>I have no problem understanding others’ desires for revenge, or calling for the death penalty when they are struck by evil. Sometimes I feel it too. It’s a human emotion that makes sense, and even the fantasy of revenge makes us often feel better.</p>
<p>But I do not think the state should engage in it. So I get that individuals may feel this way, especially the victim’s family! (I lost a sister in the 70s to a serial killer actually). But I still think civil society, as a whole, should rise above that.</p>
<p>In general, I am with mantori on this issue; however, stories like this one kind of bring out the old testament in me. I’m sorry, but I would like to see this guy suffer – amf yoyo!</p>
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<p>Me too. I think criminals should have to suffer the same harm they inflict upon others. Either that, or we should line them up and run them over with our cars.</p>
<p>I am in favor of the death penalty, especially in cases like this one. However, I love BunsenBurner’s suggestion of having them work the uranium mines. Brilliant idea!! Can I vote you into office?!</p>
<p>bookreader, the idea is not mine. The Soviets/Russians and the Chinese have been doing this for ages. Maybe we should “outsource” some prisoners to China. Definitely there should be no Norway-style prisons for such monsters.</p>
<p>I like BunsenBurner’s plan! I can’t bear to think of that monster being supported by our tax dollars.</p>
<p>Starbright: I totally agree with you. You said it much better than I did. (Post 22.)</p>
<p>I never could understand why one life is worth more than another. Or how people feel they have a right to murder someone while simultaneously condemning them for murdering someone and then calling it justice.</p>
<p>I prefer to keep a higher level of integrity. Let’s just call it revenge and murder him in the street. Shrug…</p>
<p>Keep it real. ;)</p>
<p>I guess I just have a lower level of integrity, Slacker, because I would say there are very few people in the world whose lives are not worth more than that guy’s. </p>
<p>I’m not saying society necessarily has to give him the death penalty, but he clearly is on a different level of existence than those who would never, ever, no matter what, kill helpless children in order to punish the mother.</p>
<p>I’m just keeping it real.</p>
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I don’t support the death penalty, but I don’t think that’s the issue for many people. The other argument in favor is that if someone is dead, they can’t kill again. How many people who could have received the death penalty but received life instead, then went on to kill other inmates or prison employees – or to escape and kill again? It’s a lot. Whether the death penalty deters others is an open question, but there is no question but that it deters the dead.</p>
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<p>Oh, all of us collectively posting here, or for that matter anyone in the US who just goes about and minds his or her own business, have lives that are worth more than the kind of sub-human monster who brutally murders a 7 yo disabled boy because he’s “tired of taking care of him” and then chops off his head to show the mother. Absolutely. I have no problem making that value judgment.</p>
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<p>We all know that’s merely a subjective view so merely making a point blank statement about it doesn’t really change this guys worth or lack thereof. </p>
<p>I am merely saying call it what it truly is, revenge, and then kill him…</p>
<p>This story makes my stomach churn. I’m all for special hard-labor, work camps where this type of monster goes to bed every night knowing they have nothing in front of them but another day of grueling, tedious work that results in nothing but fatigue.</p>
<p>I’ve heard the arguments that prisons offer luxuries in order to help keep the peace and make it easier on the guards. Are there no other options?</p>
<p>Isn’t the revenge idea something along the lines of “tit for tat” or “you get what you deserve”? </p>
<p>This man is a killer but what’s peculiar (and perhaps a bit disheartening) is that we can be found at fault no matter what position we take on this issue. </p>
<p>If you say that he deserves the death penalty then you can be painted as a hypocrite who doesn’t care about the moral wrong of killing , just the revenge and satisfaction. </p>
<p>And if you say he doesn’t deserve it , society will point to you and say that you do not feel for a child 's murder and a disabled one at that. You will be painted as a hard hearted communist . </p>
<p>What a cold, weird, peculiar world we inhabit . It shocks and saddens me.
And yet. It puzzles me as well. </p>
<p>Sent from my Desire HD using CC App</p>
<p>What I find strange about a crime like this is that no even marginally rational person could possibly expect to get away with it. Even if the guy is an evil monster, does he really want to be executed or spend the rest of his life in prison?</p>
<p>I’m against the death penalty, for a lot of reasons, but I like what former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura said about the fact that Minnesota doesn’t have the death penalty (quoting liberally from memory): “I’d be willing to personally throw the switch on some of these people, but it is a guy’s life we’re talking about, so I’m OK with not having it.”</p>
<p>Yeah, well, his little 7 yo boy had a life, too. I do get being squeamish about it when there is not 100% proof, but a case like this, or the Pettit case in Connecticut (that’s the family I was referring to upthread) – these are open-and-shut cases.</p>
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<p>It’s not revenge as far as I am concerned. It’s just … not caring any more what happens to monsters like that. They aren’t worth my taxpaying dollars paying for their eggs and ham in the morning, their gym in the afternoon, and their pillow and blanket in the evening. I think you forfeit your right to live when you engage in certain crimes, and this fits the bill as well as any.</p>
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<p>And yet, what I said is still true.</p>
<p>I am all for the death penalty, not as revenge, but as retribution. The monster earned it, he should get it.</p>