Earlier this year, it was discovered that a man in Cleveland, Ohio had kidnapped and had held hostage three women for about ten years. He committed terrible acts against each of the women while acting as their captor. Last week, he was sentenced to life in prison plus one thousand years as part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty. One of his victims told him that death would be too easy an escape for him.
The reason I'm writing about this is because it disturbs me that death is seen as an escape from punishment. Death is not an escape from punishment because it is not an escape from existence. The Lord awaits us for our judgement and reward, but more and more people see death as simply the end.
I remember a few years ago talking to Owen, my step-father-in-law and a faithful Catholic. He didn't support the death penalty because he saw it as a crime deterrent that had failed. I explained to him that I saw it as a means to help murderers repent: just as we all have to go through a process of making restitution when appropriate for our sins, murderers need their life taken from them to allow them to make a mends.
I'm not saying that the horrible man in Cleveland deserves death; I don't know what punishment he deserves. What I am saying is that we as a nation are very rapidly losing our faith and our morals that come with it. And, unfortunately, it's going to keep get worse.
2 comments:
The death penalty is a protection for potential future victims.
Life in prison (without the possibility of parole) can be that same protection. I have only heard politicians or pundits argue for or against the death penalty as a deterrent. My argument was not that we need to put more criminals to death, but that more and more people are viewing death as the end of existence.
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