The BP killing, and the actions of the citizen who stole cigarettes while he lay dead or dying on the floor have raised issues of crime, punishment, and many others. I frequent this store, shop there at night and in the early mornings and drive by twice a day heading to and from work. This killing, more than any others, is likely to change my behavior.
On the issue of capital punishment.
Capital punishment does have a deterrent effect.
1) Specific individual deterrence - that criminal will never victimize anyone else, either on the street or while in prison (a common occurrence given that the most heinous criminals often hit the street again, and they all victimize in prison).
2) Because the potential offenders who are deterred by the threat of capital punishment DON'T BECOME A STATISTIC the effect is hard if not impossible to measure, but it does exist.
3) For those fond of comparing evil America to our more enlightened neighbors in the world (an apples to starfish comparison I disagree with), the countries with the harshest punishments for crimes have the least amount of crime, death penalty or not.
The callousness of the cigarette stealer is a sadder testimony of the state of our city and society then the killing. However both deserve the maximum. If there is any chance the victim was alive when the cigarette thug ignored him - he should be charged with felony murder.
I join in congratulating the officers who knew their beat, knew their jobs, and helped nab these dirt bags. There is no substitute for cops on the street, who know their area, and are proactive in traffic enforcement as a method to uncover other crimes.
TAHL
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I believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research, educational, or satirical purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site/blog for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner
Snap Shots
1 comment:
Apples to starfish? No. More like comparing a solid three course meal with your family while sitting safely inside your own warm, comfortable home in the middle of winter to, say, a jackhammer being wielded by a schizophrenic construction crew right outside your no-tell motel room window at five in the morning. You are unarmed and the phone doesn't work.
I can understand why no one stopped to help, and I can even understand why someone would pause long enough to steal cigarettes. What I can't quite understand is how we got to this point.
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