The Death Penalty and Delayed Justice
The arguments surrounding the death penalty are old and worn, but, they keep coming back whenever an execution is pending. All the more so in a state like Connecticut, in liberal New England where no convicted criminal has been executed since 1960. In the case of Michael Ross, there is no doubt that he committed the eight murders for which he was convicted. Anti-death penalty advocates won a reprieve for him, as his mental competency to decide whether to continue appealing his sentence came into question.
Meanwhile, Ross, who enjoys being in the spotlight once again gets his wish at the expense of the execution of justice in the eyes of the families of his victims, who have to revisit his acts each time an execution date approaches and is delayed. Such is the nature of the death penalty - where justice is incomplete until all appeals are exhausted and the convict is put to death by the state, sometimes twenty years or more after his conviction.
Contrast that to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, the alternative to the death penalty frequently proposed by anti-death penalty advocates. There, justice begins to be served immediately following sentencing, and the convict rots in prison with no media circus to use to exercise his narcissism.
Food for thought (or preaching to the converted)...
Meanwhile, Ross, who enjoys being in the spotlight once again gets his wish at the expense of the execution of justice in the eyes of the families of his victims, who have to revisit his acts each time an execution date approaches and is delayed. Such is the nature of the death penalty - where justice is incomplete until all appeals are exhausted and the convict is put to death by the state, sometimes twenty years or more after his conviction.
Contrast that to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, the alternative to the death penalty frequently proposed by anti-death penalty advocates. There, justice begins to be served immediately following sentencing, and the convict rots in prison with no media circus to use to exercise his narcissism.
Food for thought (or preaching to the converted)...