While I was waiting for the board software to update or whatever it was doing, I wandered off to grab a shower and gave some more thought to this discussion. It occurred to me that there are some other points that should probably be clarified, while I'm at it.
The victim family that was quoted lost someone in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Please understand, I'm not belittling anyone's loss of a loved one when I say this. It's always hard to have someone die, particularly by violence. However, just as it's very different psychologically to have your loved one die in a war versus in a car accident, for example, so is it also very different psychologically to be the victim of a terrorist or mass murderer from being the victim of a more standard sort of murderer.
To start with, even the studies that show that the death penalty is a deterrent to murder also say that it is no deterrent whatsoever to terrorists, school shooters, that sort of thing. This is because, nine times out of ten, the person committing the crimes expects to die in the commission anyway. So this can often make it easier for the families of the victims to take what they feel is the moral high road.
Second, in a weird sort of psychological way, it's not . . . personal, if you understand what I mean. Yes, it's a human being causing violence that results in the death of your loved one, but in a way, it's like being struck dead by a meteorite or being caught in an earthquake.
Third, and this is sort of related, there are others going through this with you, in a way that just isn't true of regular violent crimes, even when the criminal has multiple victims. And the entire nation is mourning with you, and watching you on live TV and reading you in the newspaper, like as not.
Fourth, and this is a big one, everyone with a teaspoonful of brains knew that the Oklahoma City bomber, when caught, was a dead man. On the incredibly long chance that he was NOT given the death penalty, they were going to put him UNDER the prison, not just in it. It makes it easier to talk about forgiveness and not giving in to revenge when you know perfectly well that the rest of society is going to handle it for you, no matter what you say. It's a whole 'nother kettle of fish when the guy actually stands a chance of being paroled or escaping because he isn't a celebrity.
And yes, I'm sure there are people who are victims of more regular, run-of-the-mill violent crimes who still don't like the death penalty. That brings us back to the fact that my primary support for it is and always has been the deterrent factor and the inescapable fact that executed murderers have a zero rate of recidivism.
