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I’ll be glad to see John Allen Muhammad go for his murderous rampage. But the death penalty is still wrong.
I don’t believe in capital punishment, but I will be glad if John Allen Muhammad is executed tonight. I wish someone had shot him down in the street before he and his witless teenage accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo, went on their murderous spree, killing 10, wounding others and terrorizing the entire populations of Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
Muhammad is the sort of soulless killer who puts death penalty opponents like me in a moral bind. We don’t believe in the state putting anybody to death, including irredeemable thugs like Muhammad, but we—or at least I—wish they were dead. I resent expending millions of tax dollars to support a wretch like Muhammad as his appeal winds through the courts. I detest the notion that as long as he lives, he can still hope for a delay of his rendezvous with lethal injection. It troubles me that our legal system affords him mercy that he denied his victims and their families.
Like everyone who lived in Washington at the time of the Beltway sniper rampage, I have indelible memories. One of his victims, 72-year-old Pascal Charlot, was gunned down only a few blocks from the house in which I was living. My then 10-year-old daughter’s soccer team was forced to practice inside, running zig-zag to the door of the gym like pint-sized GIs evading enemy fire, because the sniper had threatened to target children. The hair on the back of my neck stood up every time I saw a white van, the sort of vehicle the police were looking for until they learned that the sniper actually drove a dark Chevy.
And yet I know that as much as I hate John Allen Muhammad for killing all those people and for frightening me and my kid, as glad as I’ll be when he’s finally gone, it’s wrong for the state to execute him. My belief is rooted in the conviction that the deliberate taking of life is always wrong, no matter who does it, no matter how heinous the criminal act that led to a death sentence. If anyone ever deserved to die for his crimes, it’s John Allen Muhammad. He deserves to die.
And yet, the state shouldn’t kill him.
I can’t provide a logical explanation for my position, and I don’t expect anyone to agree with me. But I believe that every deliberate killing, no matter who commits it, brutalizes us all in ways we don’t even realize. Refraining from taking a life, even a useless one like Muhammad’s, has the opposite effect. We need specimens like him around to remind us how monstrous human beings can be—not to learn from him, but to recoil from his horrid example.
And so, if all goes as the state of Virginia plans tonight and Muhammad is dispatched to the void, I’ll be filled with ambivalent, even hypocritical, emotions. I’ll be glad that the Beltway sniper is dead. But I’ll wish that we hadn’t killed him.
Jack White is a regular contributor to The Root.
Comments
If one can tell the difference between an egg and a chicken, it's a reasonable expectation that one should be able to tell the difference between a fetus in the embryonic stage and a baby. This isn't rocket science.
I never understand why liberals call out against the death penalty but yet are pro choice and have no problem killing innocent babies.
It should be the other way around, let the babies have a chance and let those who lost their chance meet their maker.
Yeah... good luck with that.
You must be new here... or you'd already know that your plea falls on blind eyes. The ROOT does not moderate. Have you read the pure hatred on this site? You can write directly to the ROOT staff and still be either ignored, or receive, weeks after you write them, a 'form response' that states "everyone has a right to their opinion as much as you do."
It's really a shame for the few good writers/contributors of the ROOT and of the few good posters.
I count about 6 intelligent posters here whose opinions I care about... that's why I come periodically and check what they have to say. This site is not for the thin-skinned.
Moderators - I need help, I want to report this abusive individual;
Macnamera532 wrote this about me; "Malcom, I could care less if you are green, you are still an idiot, and no I don't like YOUR PRESIDENT-OBAMA, as far as being racist, I don't think so, I HATE everyone equally. That sums it up Moron, do everyone a favor, buy a dictionary, I couldn't tell what language you were speaking in, while attempting to decipher some of your pathetic, simple minded posts."
Posted: Wednesday, November 11, 2009
I am a proud black man who stated my opinion about how brothers Lee Boy and Mohammid should be spared. In response, Macnamera532 wrote the above type of "hate speech" about me. I believe hate speech and discrimination against people that are not white like him are prosecutable. In addition to banning him from this site, could you help me confirm if his rhetoric is illegal? Or is it covered by free speech? I wonder if the ACLU would consider handling this case.
Power to Barack Hussein Obama!
Malcom
"If anyone ever deserved to die for his crimes, it’s John Allen Muhammad. He deserves to die.
And yet, the state shouldn’t kill him."
I agree 100%... so, we ask for citizen volunteers to end his life? I'm in.
That was my community he terrorized... could well have been me or someone I knew. I was at that Home Depot in Fairfax the same night he shot someone in that parking lot. I lived across the street from Tasker Middle school in Bowie exactly when he shot that dear child, Iran Brown. I walked my 5-mile walk DAILY through that very spot he and his minor buddy sat in and waiting for their next victim. Most everyone I knew then in MD, DC and VA was in one of the places these evil 'men' killed in.
Is the death penalty wrong... I still do not know. Do I want this man dead? YES.
Religion hasn't a thing to do with any of it. Religion is an excuse bad people use to justify their evilness. And, an excuse 'good' people use to ignore the bad.
The death penalty is wrong, period! Currently Texas Gov. is hindering the investigation of the death penalty conviction of an innocent man! As there are more African-American men on death row, there is more than enough of a chance that another innocent man will be put to death! How is state sanctioned murder, any better than murder at the hands of another individual! I believe that we as a society have been brutalized by those in power for so long that we've bought into brutalizing those that we feel are "lower on the totem pole" (so to speak) from us. That's too bad, because eventually we are all diminished!
The fact is that it has been shown that "the death penalty" is NOT a deterrent to crime! So the excuse that it deters crime cannot be used. We all know that IT IS EDUCATION, that liberates us and our children - so investing in EDUCATION IS THE KEY!
The U.S. is one of the most violent societies on earth, but it is far from alone. Rio de Janeiro, to cite only one example, has what is perhaps the highest rate of homicide of any city that is not an official war zone. What distinguishes the U.S. from other so-called advanced societies is the easy availability of firearms and the use of the death penalty. Most "civilized" societies restrict firearms, and most eschew capital punishment. They tend to have far lower murder rates than the U.S. That might be due in part to their relative lack of diversity. What I think we can be pretty sure of is that executing people does not lower the murder rate. It doesn't deter people at all. Most killings are done in a flash of rage, by people who aren't really thinking about the consequences of their actions. Murderers who plot, like John Allen Muhammad, believe they can get away with killing people. We also know that the millions and millions of guns are a contributing cause. It's true that guns, by themselves, don't kill people. But having one makes it exponentially easier for people to enact their murderous rages. People with guns kill people.
The U.S. is one of the most violent societies on earth, but it is far from alone. Rio de Janeiro, to cite only one example, has what is perhaps the highest rate of homicide of any city that is not an official war zone. What distinguishes the U.S. from other so-called advanced societies is the easy availability of firearms and the use of the death penalty. Most "civilized" societies restrict firearms, and most eschew capital punishment. They tend to have far lower murder rates than the U.S. That might be due in part to their relative lack of diversity. What I think we can be pretty sure of is that executing people does not lower the murder rate. It doesn't deter people at all. Most killings are done in a flash of rage, by people who aren't really thinking about the consequences of their actions. Murderers who plot, like John Allen Muhammad, believe they can get away with killing people. We also know that the millions and millions of guns are a contributing cause. It's true that guns, by themselves, don't kill people. But having one makes it exponentially easier for people to enact their murderous rages. People with guns kill people.
Making sh-t up as you go along is against the rules. I grew up in the church and I can honestly say that you're either making that up or you heard that in a church where the preacher took his own creative liberties with the Bible.
Just because I don't identify as a Christian, don't sleep.
You've been taught to be forgiving. Period. This is Christ's teaching. Your job is to be forgiving, God's job is to deal with the wicked. "Vengeance is Mine" and all that. Anything else is some extrapolation of things that aren't in the text.
"Pick & choose" Christianity again. Y'all kill me.
You use too wide of a brush stroke when you remark, 'Oh well, we are the most violent western nation on earth so what are you going to do..' There is a lot we can and must do, but most of it is on a personal level in our home, family, work, and community.
This remark deserves closer attention and I hope you will see that I am interested in reading what all people say and providing another perspective. We are enriched by knowing what other people think even if we do not agree.
This remark attempts to paint over most of the world. First, it eliminates half of the world by using the word 'western'. This is not to forget there is another half of the world that is a violent place to live in various parts. Then, it attempts to paint over Canada, Middle, and South America, at least they are portrayed as less violent than the United States. Amazing how that works isn't it? We are the most violent people on the whole earth? Do you really believe that? Aren't you forgetting the mass extinctions of people in Africa and Asia killed by pop-up dictators? And the injustice of there being no way to stop that?
The death penalty needs to be used when it is the only course to stop future killings. There is no way that the death penalty is entirely just, that is why God must judge us all one day after we die a physical death. One man dying by the death penalty does not equal all the innocents he killed or even one, since he does not deserve to live after he kills. God knows how to reward the righteous and punish the wicked, we cannot do that. But we can be sure that the murderer does not go free and does not ever kill again.
I listened to you, your turn. No angst or pride, just equality and reasoning. I love you and all in the name of Jesus Christ, but one day it will be out of my hands. God is big enough and holy enough to do what we can not adequately deal with. Jesus said, in as far as it be possible, live peacefully with all men. It is not always possible, but we can start with that.