Atheists: What's worse? Execution or life without parole?
I've been reading about the home invasion case that occurred in Cheshire, Connecticut on July 23, 2007. This deeply disturbing act of brutal violence is one of the worst criminal outrages in the history of that state.
Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky robbed, raped and murdered Jennifer Hawke-Petit, age 48, Hayley Petit, age 17, and Michaela Petit, age 11 in their home. The husband and father, Doctor William Petit, escaped with severe injuries and will live with the memory of these events for the rest of his life. Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky were caught, found guilty, and are awaiting execution.
Everyone wants these men sentenced to worst punishment imaginable. But is that really execution?
Most religious theists claim the soul survives the death of the body. The courts openly profess the same belief, having issued the death sentences with the words, "May God have mercy on your soul."
But I don't believe in God, souls, or supernatural punishment. I accept the medical science which shows consciousness ends with the destruction of the brain.
Steven Hayes once said, "Death for me will be a welcome relief..."
Joshua Komisarjevsky has said, "I will never find peace within."
The reality of the death penalty in this case seems rather stark. Each of these reprehensible criminals gets a quick, painless exit from a lifetime of punishment in a merciful fulfilment of his own wishes.
Or do you see it differently? Is death by lethal injection the worst punishment you can imagine? How does execution compare with life without parole in solitary confinement? What is the atheistic perspective?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Keith Pinster on -
Yep, I agree. There is definitely a line that shouldn't be crossed. If we stopped our moronic "war on drugs" and stop filling our jails with people who aren't actually hurting anyone else, we'd have a lot more resources to help those people who need it.
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Permalink Reply by Gregg R Thomas on -
10-4 to that.
Nixon start the "War" even tho he admitted it was a medical problem, saying that calling it a medical problem wouldn't play politically.
At least that's what I heard.
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Permalink Reply by Suzanne Olson-Hyde on -
n this case, a specific robbing, rape and murder by two recalcitrants, who were already on probation, who did these deeds, and then, were going to burn the whole thing place down, because they would have been caught because of their DNA being all over the place.
No accident, no oops, I didn't mean for it to turn out like this.
Planned, self-interested, no care or thought for the people he was raping, and killing. For me these people are not redeemable, no amount of re-education or given a chance, would make any difference. The only thing they would have been sorry for, was being caught, and they should never walk the streets again.
No bad, underprivileged childhood here.
In the general scheme of things, I also don't believe in the death penalty, when it rests on how good the lawyer is, and how efficient the police are in gathering evidence. Too haphazard. Too many plea bargains, and once there are human mistakes made, the person can't be bought back from the dead.
As a result of so many mistakes in the legal and policing methods etc, 12 American states have abolished capital punishment.
The US is the only Western country that imposes the death penalty, and is fifth in line for most executions behind Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran China.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/petit_...
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