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AmSpecBlog
When Justice is Just
In writing about Charles Manson follower and convicted murderer Susan Atkins, and her attempt to get out of prison on "compassionate release," my friend Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman reminds us what justice is, or at least should be, about:
Even her prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi, endorsed the idea. "She's already paid substantially for her crime, close to 40 years behind bars," he told The Los Angeles Times. "She has terminal cancer. The mercy she was asking for is so minuscule."
But the parole board unanimously refused. No doubt the board members recalled that in a 1993 parole hearing, Atkins acknowledged that when she had her own opportunity to grant clemency, she chose not to. Tate begged Atkins to spare her baby, to no avail.
"Compassionate release" already has a bad name in this country because it was the basis for Scotland's decision to free the only person convicted in the 1988 airline bombing over Lockerbie, which killed 270 people. Abdel Baset al-Megrahi was serving a life sentence but, afflicted with terminal prostate cancer, was sent home to Libya to live out his remaining time on Earth.
Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill defended the decision by saying, "Our justice system demands that judgment be imposed but compassion available." He noted that the killer "now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power. It is one that no court, in any jurisdiction, in any land, could revoke or overrule. It is terminal, final and irrevocable. He is going to die."
If we are going to rely on the Almighty in these matters, though, I would prefer that pleas for clemency from convicted killers also be addressed to Him. The truth is we are all going to die, and if we prefer not to do it in prison, we have the option of not committing crimes whose punishment might get in the way of our last wishes.
People who commit a monstrous crime should do their time and spare the rest of us a request for the sort of compassion that they refused to grant others. The purpose of punishment is to, well, punish. In the case of Susan Atkins (and Abdel Baset al-Megrahi), she deserves to be punished until her last breath in this world.
Comments
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martin j smith| 9.6.09 @ 7:54AM
I think it is sufficient that this person did not get capitol punishment. Releasing a terrorist of any kind serving a life sentence is wrong period. It is a slippery slope in our all too slippery justice system.
Don| 9.6.09 @ 8:06AM
The mercy she was asking for? Just how much mercy did she and her friends give those they murdered? That is all the mercy any of them deserve. Let them all rot in their cells it is what they ask for and now don't want. To F IN Bad.
Don | 9.6.09 @ 8:11AM
Second Thought! how soon can their victims get out and walk the streets, have babies, watch their children grow up, see what has happened in this world? Well when do they get set free? that is when their murders can be free as well. Not one second sooner.
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Eric Dondero| 9.7.09 @ 8:10AM
Funny, in the world of Doug Bandow and other leftwing pacifist "libertarians," somehow "do the crime, do the time," didn't apply to Saddam Hussein, the guy who murdered 37 US Sailors aboard the USS Stark, and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Kurds and Iraqis, not too mention hundreds of thousands of Iranians and Kuwaitis.
Oldefarte| 9.7.09 @ 11:16AM
As the Fifth Commandment states: THOU SHALT NOT KILL!!!!!
Kevin, Meath| 9.7.09 @ 11:34AM
I'd be more left wing than most posters here but on issues like these I tend to be to the more right (in fact since starting a family as far as crime against kids are concerned I'm slightly to the right of Genghis Khan). If you are not going to have the death penalty ,for which I have mixed views, then surely life must mean life for many offences. One of the reasons for the death penalty was as a deterence, if certain really bad crimes are committed it needs to be known that you will come out of prison in a pine box. I am not saying there should no parole for murderers/rapists etc but it should be rare. How can a convicted rapist kidnap and inprison a young girl when he is already sentenced to 50 years in prison? unfortunately in the Anglo-saxon world we have a legal system not a justice system.
Patriot| 9.7.09 @ 1:42PM
Kevin, just remember: Your fellow left
wingers are the people who let these monsters go free. Maybe you can understand now why liberals drive us nuts.
Kevin, Meath| 9.7.09 @ 2:32PM
Nice to hear from you Patriot, hope your well and still fighting the good fight. Not sure I'd be classed as 'left wing' well on here I would I suppose, but I agreed with the article, while every case has to be judged on its merits, the taking life has been de-valued and not viewed as the most heinious act. Don't know about over the pond but here life doen't mean life, which I disagree with, if that makes me left wing then so be it.
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Richard Baker| 9.8.09 @ 7:51AM
Actually, the proper closer translation is Thou shall not Murder, not kill.