Should We Become Like Them?

IS A SPECTACLE OF MURDER TO BE OUR VERSION OF ENTERTAINMENT?

Not That Long Ago . . . Public Executions Were All The Rage, and I am Not Writing About the Roman Empire Era, since we Don’t Have to Look Further Afield than the Guillotine, Where French Citizens Gathered To Cheer-On The Murder Of The Aristocracy.

Even In America . . . Public Lynchings – Not that Long Ago Attracted Blood Thirsty Admirers . . . How Does That Make Us A Civilized People?

People in Many Moslem Nations were Stoned To Death for things Like Infidelity. And Even Today, in Places like Iran, Women are Killed . . . just for Not Covering their Heads, Many By Public Hangings . . . Who Would Want Us To Become Like Them?

In Much Of Africa . . . Murder Is A Blood Sport.

I WROTE IN MY LAST EDITORIAL . . . I AM IFFY ON THE DEATH PENALTY:

Some Days, I Think All Murderers Should Be Murdered By The State, and Make No Mistake About-It . . . You Can Call a State Execution Whatever you Want to Call-it, since it is Done by all Facets of the “Civilized” Legal System . . . From Arrest, to Trial, to Incarceration, to Appeal . . . to Death . . . Call It What You Want – It’s Still Murder, No Matter How It Is Carried-Out.

Maybe That’s The Way To Go . . . But I Have My Reservations.

What I Have No Reservations About, is Making Executions – Murder by the State as a Public Spectacle . . . No One Should Rejoice or be Titillated by the Murder of Anyone . . . Not Even The Murder Of A Human Being With Despicable Moral Values.

Anne (My Wife Of More Than 53-Years) And I Love Each Other Dearly, and on Most things We See Eye-To-Eye, But Not On Everything, Which Includes Capital Punishment, where Anne is in Favor . . . And I Am Pretty-Much Not.

I AM NO SISSY . . . THERE IS NOTHING I WOULDN’T DO PROTECT ME & MINE:

Even Though Anne & I Agree To Disagree . . . We Still Argue Over the Virtue of State Sponsored Murder. But Where We Don’t Argue, is Using Capital Executions as a Government Spectacle . . . Because I Can Assure Anyone Reading This – The Death Penalty Serves No Deterrent To Murders On The Streets Or Witthin Homes & Families.

WHY NOT LIFE DETENTION?

I Have Read Emails & Comments that List Detentions Costing Anywhere from $50,000 Per Year to as Much as $100,000 Per Year Per Convict, which Might be True . . . But Very Questionable, since Anne & I Live a Pretty Good Life . . .

Yet . . . We Make a Monthly Payment for our F-250 Pick-Up, Housing is Not Free, Insurance on the House, F-250, Property & RV is Not Free, Food is Not Free, Especially Since we Eat Quite Well, Travel is Not Free, and Neither is the Fuel to Get to Where we are Going . . . And then there is the Cost of Constant Maintenance . . . And with all of that and More . . . Together, Anne & I Spend Not That Much More Than $50,000 Per Year.

The Question Is Simple . . . How Does an Inmate Housed in a 6-Foot By 8-Foot Concrete Box, who is Served Three Simple Meals Daily, Cooked by the Inmates themselves, Wearing Jumpsuits Cleaned by the Inmates . . . Cost The State Anywhere From $50,000 To $100,000 Per Year?

I Don’t Contest That The Cost Of Detention Is High . . . But Maybe the People Running the Prisons Need some Audited Accounting – Because we all Know – There Is No Institution Run As Well . . . As An Agency Run By The Government.

EITHER WAY . . . IF YOU WANT TO STOP CRIME INCLUDING MURDER . . .

Harden The Laws . . . Enforce The Laws & Make Prison Mean Prison – Long, Hard –  & Depending On The Crime . . . Permanent.

All Statistics Pretty Much Say The Same Thing . . . Almost all Violent Crimes are Committed by the Same People who Represent just Several Percentage Points of the Population. Most Violent Crimes are Personal, with the Majority Being Familial . . . You Want To Stop Crime? – Take the Criminals off the Streets & Lock Them-Up.

For Gang Bangers, Habitual Criminals, and Criminals who are Mentally Unstable – Throw Away The Key.

CRIME & PUNISHMENT ARE AS OLD AS CIVILIZATION ITSELF:

Institutions, Tribes & Governments Have Tried All Manner Of Criminal Control.

BUILD MORE PRISONS . . . AS MANY AS ARE NEEDED:

Short Of Exile . . . Societies Have Used Public Shaming, Flogging, Imprisonment & Execution to Deal with Criminals . . . But The Punishments Seem To Change Little, so Short of Executions . . . What’s Left? . . . Long Term Incarceration Is What Is Left.

I DO NOT WANT US TO BECOME THEM:

I Don’t Want to Measure Our (My) Society Against Societies or Cultures that Relish in Death . . . Not Even The Death Of Enemies. We Have to be Much Better than that, If Not . . . What Are We?

You Might Not Agree With Me Or Not . . . But Much Of The Time Neither Does Anne.

Best Regards . . . Howard Galganov