The Death Penalty

It was announced today that the jury in the Steven Hayes case recommended the death penalty for his part in the slaying of the Petit Family of Cheshire, Connecticut. The story of what happened to that family makes me sick and I can't spend too much time thinking about it but this recent sentencing has made me even more upset. Sentencing him to death is a cop out. It's a get out of jail free card.

Even Hayes' Attorney made the case for the death penalty being an easy out for Hayes. He noted that Hayes has lost 80lbs in jail, has lost all privacy, and is "an animal in a zoo." He said that putting Hayes to death would, "end his misery."

I think that when emotions run high in a case like this, people feel like they want to tear the suspects apart themselves. We all want justice from this case. We want to put these men to death ourselves and see him suffer and look at the lifeless body and feel safe again.

But killing a killer makes us killers. I don't care if the state condones it. It's giving up on our citizens, no matter how nasty and terrible they may be. And the excitement that people feel when they hear that someone is receiving the death penalty, makes me sick to my stomach. "The death penalty! Yes!!" I feel like our society dies a little bit with each death sentence that gets doled out.

Evil exists, I know that, I've seen it. We see it on the news everyday. But killing an evil person does not remove the evil from the world. But America is all about the kill. We want the big pay off. The cum shot. We're pleasure seekers and the death penalty makes us feel satisfied. We're disillusioned. We're desperate for some release. With the death penalty we place our criminals in sterile rooms, with signed papers and professionals and we call it even.

I say "we" because even I felt great for a few seconds after hearing that he would probably be sentenced to death. I literally felt happy from hearing the news. "He's getting what he deserves" said the emotional side of my brain. But then logic, and sense and reasoning crept in and then I just felt sad. He did something terrible, I am not saying that he doesn't deserve to be punished but I think that any of our citizens deserve to be helped. Like his attorney said, he's lost any trace of an independent life in prison. He's being punished. His life will never be the same. And that is when the state and professionals can step in and take this empty person and make him whole again. Give him the tools to change his life. At least try. It's just terrible when we give up on someone. It's not like he would ever be released. America's karma is already so fucked up. Why not try to help more people? Set some things right. Show those people who feel hopeless that there are people who can help them. Maybe if Hayes and his partner Komisarjevsky had received the proper help when they were first incarcerated for their various multiple felonies in the past things would be different now.

See? We set criminals free and then become upset when they keep on committing crimes. Putting someone in a cell doesn't change them for the better and killing a criminal doesn't right the crime. We need to do more. We need to take responsibility for letting these crimes happen. They had both already been to jail! Why were they released in the first place? What actual evidence had they exhibited that they were good to go back into society?

They served their time? OK, great. What programs did they have to complete while in prison? Did they undergo any psychological testing? Were they given opportunities to find jobs and support groups? Were they checked up on when they were released?

And if they did receive these things then they didn't work. We need to rework the system. Make it effective and stop making prison a holding station for criminals in between crimes.

It's all fucked up. We're all too emotional. Too lazy to do more.

I live the town over from where these crimes occurred. I've been to the grocery store where Hayes and Komisarjevsky first set their sights on the Petit family and I've been to the bank where Mrs. Petit was forced to remove the family's life savings on that fateful day. It could have been my family. It could have been me. But it wasn't. I'm still here to see this all play out and to make my little opinions about what I think should happen. If it was my family in that situation and I was able to survive, like Mr. Petit, I can't imagine how I would feel. Or what justice would feel like when the men who killed my family are before me.

People have said that once those men are put to death that then the family can finally be at peace. Like I said, I don't know how it feels to be in that situation but I can imagine that peace is something that I would never feel again. Peace would be to have my family back. To never have to face the fact that these men did horrible things to my family and that they are gone now. Peace would not be found in the death penalty, not for me.

Hayes wants to die. He wanted to look like a monster because he said he felt guilty and remorseful and he wanted the jury to sentence him to death. He tried to kill himself after the crimes but was unsuccessful.

So yeah, lets give him exactly what he wants and say that it's what he deserves. We'll do the work for him.

We won't help them live successfully but damnit if you want to die, we got you covered.


Sources:
CNN: http://bit.ly/d1Gcru
Boston Herald: http://bit.ly/ctguEr