First, I was in Richmond last week, to deal with a few things and one of those found me in circuit court. It was not a criminal matter and I wasn't the defendant. Since there are apparently not many civil cases at any one time, mine got lumped in with what I discovered was drug court. I'd briefly researched the judge I'd be in front of and discovered he ran his own program for substance abusers. My case was placed behind the various drug cases, which afforded me the opportunity to observe this judge and his interaction with those in front of him.
To say I was astonished by his behavior would be an understatement. He treated each defendant with kindness and respect. It was clear he had read every bit of the case files in front of him. When rendering his decision, this man showed more concern for a positive outcome for these people than he did about 'carrying out justice'. When considering those who've broken the law, my position has always been 'try 'em and fry 'em' but something about the humanity I saw demonstrated in that courtroom struck home with me. I walked out of that courthouse thinking the world needs more of what I'd just witnessed.
The second event occurred just yesterday, when a colleague and I were discussing an execution gone wrong in I think Arkansas, not that it matters. Again, my position has always been to take the bastards out and shoot 'em. But yesterday's conversation made me think about the topic in a different way. Rather than focus on the condemned, what about those who physically carry out the sentence? The guy who administers the lethal injection, or pulls the switch on 'Old Sparky'? What a terrible burden to carry around; I just took the life of another human. With the exception of sociopaths, no one escapes the trauma associated with such an act. In the past, PA used firing squads to execute prisoners. In order to prevent the guilt associated with taking a life, all but one of the guards had blanks loaded in his gun, and the weapons weren't handed out until right before the event. Let me tell you, when you're firing blanks, it's a completely different feeling than when discharging live ammo, so there's no way the man who fired the rounds that killed the prisoner didn't know he was that guy. Studies have shown the death penalty isn't a deterrent in the least.
At the end of the brief conversation, I'd reached the conclusion that the death penalty should be removed as punishment. Not because some nasty scumbags don't deserve a slow, painful death, but to preserve the humanity of those tasked with carrying out the order.
So, what's happening to me? Has my brain been scrambled somehow? Oh shit!
I'm becoming a LIBERAL!!!
