Re: [nukkad] Thoughts on capital punishment?

[Harshal Chhaya <>]

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Ragini wrote:
> Ok, it does not serve any purpose...but what do you think should have been
> done...putting him in prison for life enjoying the basic luxuries of
> life...? Meeting his family...access to some basic amenities...

Prison need not be fun. He could have served a life sentence with no
possibility of parole. Let him remember what he did for his entire life.

What he did was terrible. He *should* be punished for it. Killing
him does not seem like the right way to do it.


> Fine, this state sanctioned murder, as put forth, does sound barbaric but
> what is the answer the society makers give to the victims' families. How do
> they best punish him for the irreparable damage he did?

Each of them will have to come to peace with themselves. Will all their
tragedy go away now that McVeigh has been executed? 


> Without sounding morbid or a sadist, I have to say...in my opinion,
> logically the punishment should exceed the crime. That can not be achieved
> any more in a civilized society, in most of the cases, but atleast can be
> achieved to a fair degree. 

Do you support the practice of cutting off the hands of a thief or
stoning adulterers? 

I would like to believe that society is more responsible than a single
misguided individual. It can be more rational and not have knee-jerk
responses. Otherwise 'civilization' never happened.


> Definitely, the execution, did not give the devil
> his due. It came so easy to him.
> The painful deaths the 168 died....Timothy did not feel 1.68 minutes  of
> that. To put it in anger, he was awarded dignified death.

Would you rather have him quartered by wild horses? And put it on
pay-per-view? 

Put it another way, if you think this punishment was too light,
why not let him live and let him feel the weight of his action?

The problem with the death penalty in general is that it does not
solve any problems. There are numerous problems with the justice
system and the capital punishment process has not been without mistakes.
In this case, there was no doubt of his guilt but what about the 
various other instances where convicts were found innocent after
spending years on death-row?

It is very easy to justify McVeigh's execution. He committed
a horrific crime and show no remorse. However, the basic premise
of the death penalty is flawed. And if it is not the right way
to deal with criminals, it is not the right way in all cases. 

BTW, the father of one of the bombing victims is against 
the death penalty too. Read his statement at:
http://www.abolition.org/budwelch.html

- 'shal

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