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. To honor the
victims of the 2002 Bali Bombings on this date, October 12, 2002 and to
celebrate the V.F.F.D.P Day, I will post this article on the Death Penalty by
Bill Otis.
PAGE TITLE: http://www.crimeandconsequences.com/crimblog/
ARTICLE TITLE: Why the Death
Penalty Is Important
DATE: Tuesday, October 30,
2012
AUTHOR: Bill Otis
AUTHOR
INFORMATION: William "Bill" G. Otis (born July 27, 1946)
is a law professor and former federal prosecutor who served as Special Counsel
to President George H. W. Bush. A graduate of the University of North Carolina
(1968) and Stanford Law School (1974), Otis is currently an adjunct professor
at Georgetown University Law Center. He also contributes to the legal blog
Crime and Consequences.
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Memorial to the
children of Lidice in the park in front of the museum
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| Bill Otis |
Why the Death Penalty Is Important
October
30, 2012 4:33 PM | Posted by Bill Otis
| 3
Comments
Earlier
today, Kent explained why California's vote on Prop 34 will
reverberate outside the state's borders. I want to expand on that
very briefly.
Over
the years, I have found that many abolitionists genuinely do not understand the
motivation of retentionists. Cries of "blood lust" are not
always borne of bad will or the instinct to go ad hominem (although that
happens quite a bit). Those on our side should try to understand that appeals
to the dignity and value of human life, and fears about the prospect of
executing an innocent person, are genuine in the hearts of those who do not
agree with us. Any person of normal morality must take seriously the
mind-bending gravity of the state's intentionally taking a human life.
I
understand these feelings, since at one point they made me a death penalty
agnostic. But I am agnostic no more. Here's why.
There
is evil in this world. It is not to be mistaken with lack of opportunity,
a poor education, or racism. If none of those things existed, there would
still be evil. It stands its vigil at the border of civilized life, ready
to make its foray if given the chance. Often it is concealed or
disguised, which makes the fight against it so hard. But there are times when
it shows its face. These are the child murders, the torture and sadism
murders, the drawn out killing of helpless people for the fun of it.
A
society that has lost -- or, more correctly, has forfeited --
its right to set its face against horrors like that, to recognize some
acts as beyond the pale of civilization, and to say no and mean it --
that society has fumbled away something of ineffable value, something
hard won but easily lost. It has fumbled away that is, the moral strength
without which evil will win.
A
democracy can afford, and will make, many errors. It cannot afford that
one.
3 Comments
As
I tell people when they ask me why I support the death penalty: some people
simply deserve to die for their crimes.
it's
no more complicated than that.
"Any
person of normal morality must take seriously the mind-bending gravity of the
state's intentionally taking a human life."
Actually,
I disagree. The idea that some people, through their crimes, forfeit their
right to exist is really not that weighty a question at all. In my view,
executing a murderer really isn't that big a deal (putting aside innocence
issues, of course). An awful crime carries a steep price. I don't know what's
so hard about that.
Bill
Otis replied to comment
from federalist | October
30, 2012 7:27 PM | Reply
I
am enough in sympathy with libertarianism to be suspicious of the government's
wielding power. I must say that the present administration, in which the power
of law enforcement has been wielded both selectively and politically, increases
my concern.
That
said, the fact of falliblity cannot make us stand down from our need and duty,
in the name of the basic mores of civilized life, to put a permanent end to
remorseless killers. To hesitate because of the inevitability of error is to
hesitate just long enough for evil to win. When it does, abolitionists will
live just long enough to regret what they allowed to happen.
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