🚀 go-pugleaf

mrc@Ikkoku-Kan.Panda.COM (Mark Crispin) writes:


First of all, let me state that I am still undecided on whether the death
penalty is justified.  I don't for a moment think that people like Dodd
ought to have lived (it's now after the fact), but I don't know if legal
killing is really legal.  In other words, how can we put truly, legally
state it's okay to put a convicted killer to death?  An eye for an eye?
Something to ponder . . . 

>In terms of the necessity of Dodd's death, one only needs to listen to what
>Dodd himself has said: there is no choice.  People such as Wesley Dodd and Ted
>Bundy can not be salvaged; they can never be made harmless enough to live in
>our society.

>We have a ghoulish idea of what constitutes ``mercy''.  Hanging kills by
>fracturing the neck, *not* strangulation, when done properly.  Death is
>instantaneous.  Yet, we prefer other means to render the incorrigible
>harmless.  We lock them in a cage to rot for decades, perhaps the rest of
>their lives, and live in fear of their escape.  I don't call being caged
>``living'' or ``merciful''.

No death row inmates, have, according to a report on NPR this morning, 
escaped from prisons in Oregon or Washington (where Dodd was hanged
earlier today).  In one respect, and hypothesizing that Dodd had killed
my two little boys, I'm not sure if hanging, to me, would justify a proper
punishment for Dodd.  For me, knowing Dodd was rotting in prison for the
rest of his life *might* make me feel more like he was receiving proper
punishment, but in looking at his execution, I see that one more 
child molester/murderer is NOT in society and one more prisoner is NOT
soaking up money in upkeep.  Also, no matter what could have happened
to Dodd, it still wouldn't bring back those he murdered.

>When we do execute them, we prefer the slow means with elaborate procedures.
>It is absurd that the opponents of the death penalty claim that being strapped
>on a hospital guerney with a needle pumping salt water into your veins for 15
>minutes before they hit with the pentothal is somehow ``merciful'' compared to
>something that kills in a fraction of a second.  Yet this grotesque and
>lengthy procedure is proferred as ``mercy''!

According to news reports, the trap door underneath Dodd was opened at 
12:05 AM, his body dropped down, there was a slight jerk in the rope, his
body turned slightly to the side, and doctors examined him at 12:09 AM,
proclaiming him dead at that time.  A news reporter who witnessed the 
hanging reported that initially, prior to viewing the hanging, he expected
the hanging to be a gruesome event.  After the hanging, in retrospect, he
and other viewers noted how *peaceful* it really seemed, and the reporter
stated that, "If I were going to be executed, that's the way I'd want to
go."

allen