Death Sentence for Boston Bomber
I know a lot of people feel that justice has been served today, but I think it's important to hold firm my moral values, especially when giving in would be a lot more convenient. He (and I won't use his name because it gives him unnecessary notoriety) should not have been given the death penalty, nor should anyone else. Apparently, it is perfectly socially acceptable to say you are against the death penalty. But, declaring each individual execution a violation of our collective moral fibre is a bridge too far. You can be opposed to the concept, just not the actual act. The state does not have an inalienable right to kill. To base a system of criminal justice on the principle of an eye for an eye cheapens a society's morality and general human decency. Plenty of arguments can be made about the racial injustice inherent in the criminal justice system and the grotesque manifestations of that racism in the mass executions of innocent black men. The fact that the Innocence Project has hundred of execution orders reversed every year, almost exclusively for men of colour, can attest to the failures of the criminal justice system. The fact that in places like Texas, individuals with mental disabilities, such that they cannot comprehend the ramifications of their actions, are executed for their actions is the definition of injustice. These are all valid arguments against the death penalty and should all be made. But, these injustices do not change the fact that even in a perfect criminal justice system, a system free of flaw or failure, a system that always gets the perpetrator and never imprisons a single innocent soul, the death penalty would still be wrong. The government does not get to decide who lives or dies. Justice is the recognition of inate humanity in even the most vile and sadistic of human beings. Justice isn't what is convenient. It doesn't always make us want to cheer "rah rah" or fill us with righteous indignation. Justice is hard. Justice is sometimes the decision to let a mass murderer, or someone who many consider a terrorist, live out the rest of his life in prison. It may not give us the overwhelming sense of relief or vindication that we're looking for in a time like this, but one less death on the collective conscience might just help us feel a little better about the society we have built.
