Are drugs an excuse for wanton murder?

Midtown Miscreant says no, and mulls the question 'Why is Nicholas Sheley still alive?'

| Sara Shepherd

Hat Tip: One of you e-mailed this to James -- nickname mm, perhaps? Thanks!

Comments

[in2ropin]

Great article and I agree with his vision:)

[KC CIcero]

It has nothing to do with his use of drugs, though that is a terrible fact for so many.

Killing killers does not honor the victims. It merely treats them as commodities for which a price can be exacted in blood. We do a disservice to the families of murder victims when we tell them they are somehow cheated when the killer is locked up for life. We are also telling them that they are incapable of perceiving justice without blood.

This guy may "deserve" to die a half-dozen times -- maybe each time slowly & painfully. But civilized -- and allegedly Christian --societies do not deserve to kill him.

After all, what do you call a person who derives any satisfaction or pleasure from killing? Is a society less responsible?

Those executed are dead. It is those who execute -- all of us -- who must live with the results.

[Rosie]

This guy is spiritually dead already. In a Christian context, it doesn't matter whether we use the Old Testament justice of Hammurabi or the New Testament approach of forgive, live and let live. Whatever squeaks your sneaker, whatever brings you personal peace -- his victims' families will have to figure that out too. He will not go free again. His victims are still dead. Their families will never get to tell them they are loved again.

I personally struggle with the issue of capital punishment. I think it is no more effective than life in prison because we coddle the sentenced with endless appeals and they languish for sometimes decades at enormous expense, with enormously expensive lawyers working on their cases. If we abolished appeals and led them out of the courtroom to be put immediately to death in the same manner in which they killed their victims, I think I would be more in favor of it.

On the other hand, life in prison gives a person a long time to think about their deeds. That can backfire though. Often the person "finds" Jesus, declares himself forgiven, absolved, free of personal guilt, and announces he knows he's going to heaven and spends his days happy as a lark, dispensing Christianity Lite to other inmates.

MM is right though, drug addiction is no excuse for bad behavior. Addiction can explain but not excuse violence. A person has to be predisposed to violence in order for altered brain chemistry to kick it into gear.

[kay]

I call crack heads and tweakers the living dead. You can look in their eyes and don't see a soul. Had a friend who got involved with ice, and it completely changed him. Last time I saw him, I exited thru a back door - he scared me that bad. Can I blame the drugs for what he became? Truthfully, he had always been a mess, and the drugs made it worse. Either way, he's responsible for his behavior. When he's cleaned up, he's okay. But you can't trust him to stay clean.