I’m against the death penalty, but there are times when I wonder whether death penalty opponents actually listen to themselves. This comes from the newsletter of the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society:
Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP) has issued an alert calling people to take a few minutes to say “no” to executions. The alert is intended to help stop Virginia’s 106th execution since the Supreme Court sanctioned the death penalty in 1976. This is the second-highest total of executions in the nation, trailing Texas.
Paul Warner Powell is scheduled to be killed by the Commonwealth of Virginia at 9 p.m. Thursday, March 18, for the Jan. 29, 1999, murder of Stacie Reed.
VADP’s alert suggests several actions to help “stop the cycle of violence that state-sanctioned killing perpetuates.”
If I never hear the expression “cycle of violence” again, I’ll be quite happy. Using it in this context suggests that people commit capital crimes because the state executes people who commit capital crimes. Or that’s what it would mean, if in fact it meant anything. Instead, it’s as if because there’s violent crime involved, the writer of the “action alert” simply took the first suggestion out of his cliché machine, which happened to be this one.
And yes, I’m aware that this is a little thing. Take it as evidence that I got up on the wrong side of the bed today. Even so, Harvey Korman stills speaks for me:
February 26, 2010 at 10:43 pm
I am pro-death penalty but anti-how it is used/operates in the U.S.
If that makes any sense.
February 27, 2010 at 9:42 am
That makes a lot of sense to me. Of all procedural protections that might protect an innocent person from being unjustly executed, not executing people is, hands down, the most effective.
February 27, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Plug “cycle of violence” into Google and 391,000 hits for “cycle of violence” is the result.
There are several phrases pushed by the left. This is how a liberal author gains street credibility from his or her peers.
February 27, 2010 at 12:51 pm
The “cycle of violence” certainly does seem to enjoy “cliche” status. But I’m wondering, Larry, if it is an entirely invalid concept. Outside of its use in this “death penalty” instance, doesn’t it actually describe a very real phenomenon that we should be aware of?
February 27, 2010 at 4:01 pm
Of course if we got rid of prisons that would cut down on the number of innocent people incarcerated.
(By the way I believe the justice system in the U.S. punishes victims at least twice over.)
March 6, 2010 at 7:05 pm
RE: Of course if we got rid of prisons that would cut down on the number of innocent people incarcerated.
That it would. Of course being unjustly imprisoned is a lot less severe than being unjustly killed.
When you said that you are uncomfortable with how the death penalty is used and operates in the U.S., what did you mean? I assumed you thought that this punishment is being used too often or too easily. Maybe you thought it not being used enough?
What exactly is your discomfort?