In Florida, a man was just executed for a murder he committed more than 28 years ago!
Reading
this article that made the front page of Fox News made me think, yet again, does the death penalty bring closure?
Whatever you think of the death penalty, you have to seriously be bothered by cases like this one.
David Alan Gore, 58, was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m. Thursday after receiving an injection at the Florida State Prison, officials said.
Asked if he had a final statement, Gore said as he lay strapped to a gurney: "Yes, I do."
"I want to say to the Elliott family [the victim he killed for which he was sentenced to death], I am sorry for the death of your daughter.
I am not the man I was back then, 28 years ago. I am a Christian. Christ lives within me. I hope you all can find peace today," Gore said.
Making no eye contact with the family, he added that he hoped the family could "find it in their hearts to forgive me" and concluded: "I don't fear death."
28 years after a horrible crime, and a family is finally given a conclusion to the case? Yeah, that sounds effective!
How do family members feel? Here are some of their reactions:
Elliott's parents had said as Thursday's execution time approached that this was the day they have been waiting for — a date many thought should have come years ago, considering there was no doubt he committed the crimes and he had shown no remorse for the killings.
"For us it's been a nightmare, because I just turned 81. I was beginning to think that I might die before he went," said Carl Elliott, the girl's father, recently.
And ...
"I've been waiting for this day for years. I would've saved the state a lot of money if they let me. I'd do it myself and have no qualms about it," said Mike Daley, whose wife, Judy Kay Daley was killed by Gore in July 1981.
So you see what the death penalty does for us? To us?
And California is being urged to by the very person who wrote the law 34 years ago!
Check that out here:
There are many times an idea may seem like, and even is, a good idea at the time. The key is that the idea is good for that time, not necessarily down the road. The death penalty has been hotly debated for several years now. People will often hold on to something as if it's set in stone and sent from the Heavens. If you think about it, the death penalty hasn't been around forever. This means that it's probably not going to stick around forever. I think it's clear that once the individual who wrote the law no longer has faith in it, the time has come for further reform. This does not mean the world is coming to an end.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, when analyzing the death penalty, there is no real deterrent effect. One reason this is true is because only a very small fraction of individuals are given this sentence. The majority of individuals are sentenced to some form of incarceration, not the loss of their lives. Though some may argue the death penalty is a form of closure for the family of the victim, would leaving a wound open for 28 years feel like closure when the man that killed your daughter was finally put to death? Issues such as these will continue to be debated, but it seems that a change to the death penalty is also becoming more appealing.