I’ve been thinking about this all day. Is it right to put a convicted murder to death for a crime committed before his 18th birthday? Our supreme court says no, but I have doubts. I agree with the dissenting opinion, let the state decide. I think it is possible to determine if a person was responsible at the time he or she committed a crime. I think it is reasonable to expect a jury to make the right decision regard a person’s guilt, and the appropriate punishment.
This decision bothers me. It started with the realization that 70 people would escape execution. I wondered what kinds of crimes were involved. How heinous were the crimes? How deprived was the person? People like to think of their own children at the age of 17 when thinking about the humanity of putting a youth to death. They can forget that these people were convicted of incredibly brutal crimes. In many cases, crimes that are so brutal and senseless that one is left wondering what could have motivated it. Some will say a lack of maturity contributed to the crimes, if that is the case, maturity is not granted by magic when one turns 18. Turning 18 is only a day older than 17. Putting three bullets in the back of an innocent boy's head at age 17 should not be treated differently than if it happened at age 18. The perpetrators mental state and his or her capabilities should be determined in any trial of this nature. Oh damn, I’ve drifted off topic…
What kinds of people were freed to live their lives in our prisons? This article tells us that they are not nice people. In fact, after reading it, I am convinced the Supreme Court made a mistake.
Dale Craig put three bullets in the head of university freshmen Kipp Gullett so Craig could have a nice ride to go see his girlfriend across town.
In addition to Dale Craig, these three people missed their date with the executioner:
“Roy Bridgewater, convicted in Jefferson Parish in the 1996 execution-style slayings of 45-year-old Nelson Beaugh and his 70-year-old mother, Della Beaugh, in Marrero. Bridgewater was 17 at the time the crime was committed and is now 24.”
“Cedric Howard, who was convicted of beating and stabbing to death 82-year-old Rita Rabalais in 1994 in her Alexandria home. He was one of nine men convicted in the murder, which authorities have said was part of a street-gang initiation. He was 16 at the time of the crime and is now 25.”
“Aaron Wilson, convicted in the kidnapping, robbery, rape and murder of 48-year-old Vickie Lynn McGraw in Shreveport in 2000. He was 17 at the time the crime was committed and is now 20. According to evidence presented in the case, McGraw was the victim of a random carjacking outside an apartment complex and forced to withdraw $300 from an automated teller machine.”
Do these people deserve to die? Yes. I think they do. We just allowed 70 people just like this a second chance. I feel better, don't you?
6 comments:
Can libertarians really think that that the state should have the power to take life? Who grants the state this right? And how are reparations made if there is a mistake? Shouldn;t libertarians care about that?
As a party, libertarians do not take a position on the death penalty (abortion either). Personally I support it. There are economic calculations that can be used to determine the value of a human life in the event of a mistake. For reparations, this is how it has been handled in the past. Take a life - forfeit your own.
I am the daughter of Vickie Lynn McGraw. I am very angry and upset about Aaron Wilson getting taken off of death row. He deserves to die. And in my opinion so do all of the other guys involved. The Surpreme Court making this decision just brought up all of my emotions again about it. It is very depressing. We worked so hard to get this man on death row and now he gets this chance to live. Aaron was 17 years and 11 months old when he committed this crime on my Mother. He murdered her on Christmas Eve, my 17th bday. I don't care how old he was. He knew what he was doing. He doesn't deserve to breathe the same air I do.
Google Vickie Lynn McGraw - Shreveport, Louisiana - and then you tell me if the death penalty is appropriate.
On the evening of December 23, Vickie Lynn McGraw, left her Shreveport, Louisiana, home to visit friends. The 48-year-old mother of two, former wife of a Shreveport police lieutenant, never made it to her friends' home. Two men were loitering outside Mrs. McGraw's home, and as soon as she got into her car they rushed her, pointed guns at her, forced their way into her car, and drove off with her. The men drove her to an automatic teller machine and forced her to withdraw money - $300. They then BEAT, RAPED, and SODOMIZED her. Finally, they threw her from her car. As she pleaded with them, explaining that she had children and she would not identify them, they MURDERED her by firing a bullet into the back of her head, leaving her beaten corpse in a roadside ditch, where a passerby found her on Christmas Eve morning.
I first would like to sincerely express my sympathy to the family of the victim. This crime was beyond senseless. I have had my concerns about teens receiving the death penalties because of their immaturity but in this case I have none. This young man was beyond wrong and even a humane execution carried out seems too fair for him. Once again I can't express enough sympathy in this case.
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