Slava Novorossiya

Slava Novorossiya

Sunday, January 20, 2013

SHOULD JAMES HOLMES BE EXECUTED? [THE DEBATE OF THE FORTNIGHT ~ SUNDAY 20 JANUARY 2013 TO SATURDAY 2 FEBRUARY 2013]



NOTICE: The following article is written by the author itself and not by me, I am not trying to violate their copyright. I will give some information on them. I have posted the news source from http://www.policymic.com

Why James Eagan Holmes Should Not Be Executed
Why James Eagan Holmes Should Not Be Executed 

The Aurora, Colorado monster, in my opinion, will get his, in this life or the next. There are consequences for every action. Although I sympathize with some who would like to pull the lever on his electric chair, we should think twice about giving the State the right to execute people. One can make a strong argument that State execution is cruel and unusual punishment, which the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution prohibits.

The destruction the Aurora shooter unleashed needs no compassion. There is nothing that this monster can do to make it right in this life. However, asking the State to take his life won't make it right. Wanting the State to execute such monsters turns us into monsters, and instills in us the idea that two wrongs do make a right. Allowing the State to execute him with a painless death by lethal injection is too kind. Instead, make this monster think about his crimes for the rest of his life in hard labor — the kind that Nelson Mandela unjustly served

The above does not prohibit cops or troops from shooting bad guys to protect themselves or innocent bystanders. After all, the Fifth Amendment ensures that no "person … shall … be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Cops or troops that take fire are deprived of life if bad guys take their lives.

Years ago, before I understood the Constitution, I would have been in favor of a president signing a kill order for Osama bin Laden using drones flying above the battlefield or armed troops on the ground. Heck, I would have probably volunteered to push the button or pull the trigger. However — and please do not take what I am about to write as being soft on terrorism — most of what we know of the monster bin Laden is what our government has told us through their mouthpiece, the U.S. media. Because the Constitution protects "persons," bin Laden should have been arrested and tried in court, preferably a military one. If he had been tried and found guilty, he should have served hard, isolated time instead of the glorified martyrdom he likely desired.

Although Executive Orders 11905 (Ford), 12036 (Carter), and 12333 (Reagan) outlaw State assassination, the bin Laden raid appears to be a government sponsored assassination op. I came to this conclusion after reading an MSNBC article. According to it, the White House's "corrected account raised questions about whether the Americans ever planned to take him alive, or simply were out to kill him." Initial news reports, that were dispelled later, gave this op some cover suggesting, "bin Laden had been holding a gun and perhaps firing at U.S. forces." The Executive Orders proscribing assassination is a great example of presidents keeping their oaths to uphold the Constitution because these actions are necessary for suspect persons to be given due process.

If monsters like the Aurora shooter and bin Laden serve hard, isolated time, my positions, if adopted, are not soft on crime or terrorism.

Like offensive speech that must be protected, monsters like the Aurora shooter and bin Laden must be given due process. Politicians who celebrate executions of suspected persons or erect anti-offensive language laws are would-be tyrants. Don't be fooled. No matter how politicians justify laws or actions that limit speech or support State execution, they are eroding the Constitution. And in doing so, are violating their oath to uphold it.

Don’t be a fool.

The Constitution is holding back the floodwaters of tyranny, and it keeps us from becoming the barbarians we fear.

James Holmes Trial: Why the Aurora Shooter Should Be Executed

James Eagan Holmes, the Aurora, Colorado, shooter needs to die. I am saying this as one who does not believe that we should apply the death penalty liberally. Given the possibility of executing the wrong person, I do not support implementing it in cases in which there is any question of guilt involved. But in the case of James Holmes, his attorneys will not plead innocence; they will plead insanity.

Before going further, I should add two caveats: I am not familiar enough with criminal law to say whether an insanity plea should apply; the shooter may not have known the difference between good and evil, but a mind that could concoct and carry out such a plan pretty much is pure evil. Also, I have no proof as to whether or not James Holmes is the shooter and no knowledge of the subject beyond what I can read on the news; this piece presumes guilt, but jurors for the trial have a legal and ethical responsibility to presume otherwise.

The case in Colorado has reframed the question of capital punishment: Whereas the media discussion usually focuses on whether or not the defendant is guilty, the only question now seems to be whether or not the death penalty is just. Recently, a PolicyMic colleague took the position that killing by the government can never be just, writing: "monsters like the Aurora shooter and bin Laden must be given due process." I agree on the principle of "due process," but not its application.

Maintaining the legitimacy of due process of law is precisely the reason it is so important that the government execute criminals like James Holmes. Whether or not we approve of all actions that the government takes, there is no question that the government is the only institution that can legally use force for any other reason except defense of self, property or peers. In this case, death is certainly the penalty that fits the crime.

This doesn't mean that all of the arguments cited in favor of capital punishment apply. Executing James Holmes will probably not deter more mass shootings from taking place. Usually, mass shooters are suicidal and the prospect of being punished for their actions does not register high on their list of concerns. But it is a major concern for the members of the community that the shooter affects.

When people no longer have confidence in the government to punish crime appropriately, they begin to take matters into their own hands. A police officer that loses his partner to a gunman is less likely to try to take the gunman alive if he knows that imprisonment without parole is the maximum punishment for suicide. Several years ago, I was at a lecture by the English journalist Peter Hitchens, during which he claimed that British vigilantism had risen since the elimination of capital punishment and a quick Google search for vigilantism in the United Kingdom brings you to news stories like this and websites like this.

Once vigilantes begin to take matters into their own hands, they will begin to punish major and minor crimes alike: undocumented workers and shoplifters might begin to find themselves targets of vigilante justice. Hollywood has given America a somewhat positive view of vigilantes, but real life vigilantes are more like Travis Bickle than Batman. Vigilante mobs don't offer due process of law. They don't elect a jury of twelve peers. They don't lock criminals up with the intention of rehabilitating them one day or, at worst, execute them after providing a final meal. Instead, they beat suspects within an inch of their lives; take fingers, hands or genitals; or just kill the suspects so that they won't raise assault charges.

The only other punishment that the government has for James Holmes is life in prison under conditions of hard labor. But placing someone like that in the penal system is a questionable decision as Holmes could pose a threat to guards or prisoners; while he may not be as used to the culture of violence as most hardened criminals, learning to kill without a gun doesn't take long for someone who is mentally deranged. Furthermore, were he given a maximum sentence short of the death penalty, he would enter into a state penitentiary with nothing to lose.

Max Weber famously wrote that the government is an institution that "upholds the claim to the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force in the enforcement of its order." But when the government stops using the amount of physical force that average citizens deem appropriate, it is not surprising that individuals or organizations start using illegitimate physical force to uphold their idea of order. If the government wants to be responsible for upholding social order, sometimes this means taking physical force to its furthest reach. 


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