I know that in this
world there are murdered victims’ families against the death penalty; they are
only notable and rare. I respect their decision to oppose capital punishment
but I strongly denounce their attempts to ask for a worldwide abolition of it.
Although I agree with them in being
able to forgive their loved ones’ killers, which is the right thing to do, I
disagree when they say that the death penalty is nothing but revenge. Those Christian
murdered victims’ families who claim that the death penalty is against mercy of
God are making a fatal error, they should not mix up the mercy and justice of
God together. There are many other Christian theologians or writers will disagree with them for
sure.
They should not be misled by other
abolitionists who want to make the world a paradise for criminals. Just take a
look at what happen to Illinois when they abolished the death penalty.
When I
hear them giving speeches against the death penalty, I wonder why not get those
murdered victims’ families who support executions to speak too. I know that those against executions are only
20% but those who support are 80%. Do not allow yourself to be use by the
abolitionists for their anti-death penalty (criminal rights) propaganda, many
other murdered victims’ families want to see their loved ones’ killers put to
death, they want justice and not revenge. The more you give those testimony of
yours, the more you grieve the other victims’ families.
Don’t
believe it, see these links below:
From the
Pro Death Penalty Quotes website:
Ask the
following people what they have gone through:
1. Family members of Holly Carol Washa
2. Tumini
5. Family members of Dawn Marie Garvin
8. Parents of
Jennifer Cardy
9. Officer Hector Garza’s family
10. Fumiko Isogai
11. Davida Brown
I suspect those abolitionists will
not campaign against the Black Vultures of Iran and Adolf Eichmann as their
crimes are so heinous.
Victims' Families for Death Penalty Repeal: More Hurt For Victims
ReplyDeleteDudley Sharp
Victim's Families Against the Death Penalty (hereafter "VFADP") are family members of murder victims who actively oppose the death penalty and are seeking its repeal (1).
I oppose their efforts, which are, intentionally, divisive and hurtful for murder victim survivors who believe differently.
My contention is that all anti death penalty arguments are either false or that the pro death penalty arguments are stronger. So far, VFADP confirms those findings.
Based upon polling, about 80% support the death penalty for truly death penalty eligible murders. Anecdotally (scientific polls are not possible), it appears 95% of those who have lost loved ones to capital murder support the death penalty as a just sanction (2).
For example, of the 2000 or so folks who lost loved ones in the Oklahoma City bombing case, I am aware of only one that opposes and actively fights the death penalty. How many of the 30,000 or so of those who lost loved ones on 9/11 spoke out against the death of Osama Bin Laden or against a death penalty for any surviving planners of it (2)?
The VFADP, a vast minority, are attempting to stop justice for the vast majority. I suspect the majority of VFADP members are not survivors of crimes which are death penalty eligible (1).
Instead of being divisive and hurtful, why can't VFADP just say, "we oppose the death penalty, but respect your right to support the death penalty in your case."? VFADP won't support other victims in that fashion because their sole goal is to get rid of the death penalty, not helping any victims who feel differently but, in fact, working against them.
Instead, the VFADP are, actively, seeking to deny that right to those who find the death penalty just. Thus, the VFADP are, intentionally hurtful and divisive, when they need not be.
The VFADP claims that the death penalty makes some murder victims more or less valuable than others, by the degree of punishment.
As with all states, there are many different legal levels of criminal homicide (non negligent, involuntary, etc. . . . all the way to felony or capital murders) with sanctions ranging from probation to the death penalty.
The VFADP has had no discussions about consolidating all criminal homicides into one category with one sanction. That shows how disingenuous and silly this argument is.
It is the nature of the crime, not the victim, which determines the criminal charge.
The VFADP complains about the length and cost of death penalty appeals and how that injures, even more.
Such delay and cost are the result of anti death penalty legislators and other activists, who have prevented reasonable reforms. Again, the VFADP, now, joins those causing additional pain and cost.
The Virginia protocol allows for executions in 7.1 years, on average, with 75% of those so sentenced being executed. Such a protocol would cost less than LWOP.
contd
contd
DeleteThe VFADP complain that murderers become celebrities. Who makes them celebrities? Anti death penalty activists. Many murderers become celebrities without the death penalty being present. Stop doing it.
The death penalty allows for a plea bargain to a life sentence, preventing a trial, saving some such family members a trial and giving the option of such plea bargains having a sentence without parole - a plea option which goes away when there is no death penalty. Such a plea also saves huge amounts of money over having a LWOP trial.
Thus, the VFADP efforts, if successful, will increase both costs and pain.
The VFADP states the death penalty is not a deterrent. Anyone who has considered deterrence is aware that all prospects of a negative outcome deter some. It is a truism. It is impossible, by truth and reason, to say "The death penalty deters none." The only question is "How much does it deter?" There are 28 studies finding for deterrence since 2000 (3), all of which disagree as to the degree of deterrence.
The death penalty is a greater protector of innocent lives, in at least three ways (3).
Therefore, the VFADP is asking to spare all murderers lives at the cost of sacrificing more innocents.
The strongest argument for the death penalty? Justice, the foundation of support for all sanctions.
Let's direct our attention where it belongs, against those anti death penalty obstructionists, and create a just, responsible death penalty system that honors justice and stops the additional and preventable re victimization, caused by death penalty opponents, now joined by VFADP.
1) Some of these anti death penalty victim groups cannot tell the moral differences between crime and punishment, guilty murderer and innocent victims and, therefore, their memberships have included and may still include family members whose loved ones were executed, calling them murder victim survivors - they equate murder victims with murderers who have been executed. Appalling.
2) US Death Penalty Support at 80%; World Support Remains High,
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/04/us-death-penalty-support-at-80-world.html
3) a. The Death Penalty: Saving More Innocent Lives,
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/03/death-penalty-saving-more-innocent.html
b. Innocents More At Risk Without Death Penalty,
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2012/03/innocents-more-at-risk-without-death.html
I agree, Dudley Sharp. Check this links: http://www.newschannel10.com/Global/story.asp?S=12260858
Deletehttp://www.newschannel10.com/story/14206053/victims-family-speaks-about-supreme-court-ruling
I guess the truth can be said, that there are rare cases - rare Victims, which can support either side of this issue. My name is Catherine Burke. I am THE VICTIM OF A MASS MURDEROUS ATTACK IN MY OWN HOME...
ReplyDeleteAND - I am THE MOTHER OF A MURDERED CHILD - Saskia Savana Burke!
"Murrieta police Detective Jeffrey Ullrich, who attended the autopsy of Saskia Burke, said the woman suffered seven stab wounds. Two of the wounds, one to the right side of her face that severed her jugular vein and another to the center of her chest, were not survivable, Ullrich said"
William Gary Simpson stabbed Saskia in her left cheek, the force of the knife breaking her 3 molars on her bottom left jaw, shoving the knife all the way through her face, the blade going out her right cheek... AFTER PULLING THE KNIFE OUT, he stabbed her again, the force of the knife going into her right cheek, at a downward angle, slicing through her tongue, cutting through the muscle and tendons in her jaw and severing her artery, all 12+ inches of the blade going in all the way to her heart... After PULLING THE KNIFE OUT AGAIN, he then stabbed her in the chest - severing both her lungs and the ventricle to her heart...
She lived long enough for us to helplessly watch her die!
"(William Gary Simpson) went into the home to kill those people," Smith said. "Paul Burke and Connor McCormack are not dead because they had the strength to fight back."
Saskia Burke did not have a chance, Smith said.
"(Simpson) slaughters her," Smith said. "He stabbed her in the face, in the heart, in the back."
I live in a horror, too absolute to breathe...
Revenge and Justice are all we ever hear, from everyone! It is all that is discussed with regard to the Victim, when looking at the Death Penalty. But I have a different perspective, from within this inadequate justice system we currently bear…
For there is truly no Revenge great enough,
No Justice powerful enough,
To make ANY DIFFERENCE AT ALL…
I have only my unique perspective as a MOTHER. I look down the road, at the possible future all my children may one day have… To a day when they have families, and children of their own… If Simpson does not receive the DEATH PENALTY? I do not want my to be forced to revisit Saskia’s murder, forced ever again to see the face of William Gary Simpson, the monster who murdered her! And LWOP is being overturned every day in our society! The worst possible thing that could happen, would be that somehow Simpson is granted PAROLE, this wolf - in - sheep’s - clothing? That again in their future, my children would live in mortal fear for their lives? That William Gary Simpson, if given his freedom,
ReplyDeletewould exact his revenge upon my children and my grandchildren?
His sentence DETERMINES THE FUTURE OF EVERYONE I LOVE !
In a Mass Murderous attack December 20, 2011 - a friend of our son's, a friend of our family for over 10 years came into our house to annihilate our family and all the children who were staying with us over Christmas break...
William Gary Simpson brutally, violently - viciously smiled while he stabbed our 18 year-old daughter Saskia Savana Burke to death at 4am when she went downstairs for a bottle of water... We all awoke to her screams as she was being MURDERED. He brought with him a duffle bag filled with knives...
He tried to slaughter all of us, while my just 13 year-old daughter stood paralyzed on the steps watching... Simpson's attack has so profoundly affected Kessa, that her therapists and psychiatrists feared she may not recover...
But this courageous little girl has decided she wants to live. She wants to try to build a BRAND NEW LIFE and go on. And in the dark of each night, when the horror and the terror return and take hold of her, she NEEDS TO KNOW THE MONSTER WHO CAME TO KILL HER IS TRULY DEAD...
THE ONLY THING that the Death Penalty sentence WILL do, is to return some sense of peace to my 14 year-old daughter. That's all. But, that's enough too. Kessa heard her sister's screams as she was being brutally and viciously stabbed to death. Kessa stood on the stairs, at the tender age of 13, and watched in horror the bloody battle as the Gary stabbed her daddy and a 17 year-old boy who was staying with us over Christmas break. And as she ran out the front door of her home that morning to escape, she feared her mother - who was the only one left to battle with the Gary Simpson and his arsenal of knives, would die too!
ReplyDeleteKessa has not slept a single night since, without the nightmares. Her post traumatic stress is too large, for such a young girl! And yet - she is brave enough, strong enough to fight to survive this! And what she NEEDS to survive, to go on and put together her NEW LIFE - is what you are debating right now! Please, don't take from VICTIMS any more than the MURDERER already has.
We tell our children, monsters don't exist. Except in Kessa's case, she knows THEY DO! And she lives in constant terror, each moment Gary Simpson is alive. Kessa asked me, when California was trying to get rid of the Death Penalty, "what" the Death Penalty is - and "how" they would put Gary to death. I explained he would be put in a 'special prison', and that some day they would place him on a table and insert a needle into his arm. He would be given a drug that was not painful, but would stop his heart and he would die. At first, she was ANGRY that he would not suffer.
Many weeks later, she came to me and asked if she could watch when they executed Gary. I told her yes. She pondered this for many days more. And then, my 13 year-old came to me again. "I need to see Gary die, momma. I need to know he is REALLY dead, and he isn't going to hurt us anymore! I think I could sleep again, if I knew he was dead... Please momma, make sure we keep the Death Penalty in California, so I can stand behind the glass and watch Gary die."
To a society who thinks there's more, well, there's not. The ONLY thing that can be gained is the chance for Kessa to build a brand new life. She needs to have her sense of safety and peace restored to her. WILLIAM GARY SIMPSON, who came to annihilate Kessa's family simply because they loved each other - and he coveted that love, MADE HIS OWN CHOICE to throw his life away. And if Kessa needs to see him dead to rebuild HER LIFE - it's the least society could give to her!
Kessa once had a loving, happy family. A mommy and a daddy, a brother and a sister. We were ONCE THE BURKE'S- and now, there's just Kessa...
She's the only one who stands a chance of going on,
in the aftermath of what WILLIAM GARY SIMPSON
CHOSE TO DO!
After all, Each Murderer, CHOSE to kill.
ReplyDeleteEach VICTIM had no choice but to die.
Each VICTIM'S FAMILY has no choice, but to continue living a life that is
EVERY PERSON'S WORST NIGHTMARE...
I know how my Saskia felt about her life. These are Saskia Burke’s words, of how SHE feels:
“ I could never forgive someone for taking away my rights, my home, my friends and my life! If things like this happened to me I would be resentful, rather than forgiving. I just couldn’t forgive the people who were so prejudiced that they made me lose my best friends, and school. Just the thought of losing them brings tears to my eyes. I couldn’t forgive the people who took away my parents rights as citizens. I couldn’t forgive the people who restricted my loved ones from doing the things they love. I couldn’t forgive those who made me leave my home. I wouldn’t be able to forgive them for MAKING ME SO SCARED OF THEM, I FROZE WITH FEAR EVERY TIME I HEARD A SOUND!”
Saskia’s thoughts, written just weeks before her murder, for an essay on Anne Frank. “Thinking that Anne forgave them for all that, is unbelievably saintly. Even though Anne was just a regular girl like me, she was more remarkable than anyone I have ever heard of! I wouldn’t be as forgiving and naïve. I would be resentful, for being so wronged!” I ran across this open page, sitting in her room amongst her unfinished homework. HER THOUGHTS, about an unspeakable horror and injustice. HER WORDS, that speak directly to William Gary Simpson, Saskia’s “MURDERER”!
"Indeed, the decision that capital punishment may be the appropriate sanction in extreme cases is an expression of the community's belief that certain crimes are themselves so grievous an affront to humanity that the only adequate response may be the penalty of death."
I am Catherine Burke,
ReplyDeleteMother of a MURDERED CHILD - AND - Victim of a VIOLENT CRIME !
While most people are a
Parent of a Murdered Child, OR, a Victim of Violent Crime,
FEW PEOPLE STAND IN MY SHOES - AS BOTH!
And even from within the Parents of Murdered Children group, I have yet to find ONE –
Who WITNESSED THEIR CHILD BEING MURDERED…
Who is forced to live with their CHILD’S SCREAMS OF TERROR, PAIN AND HORROR!
Who had to BATTLE WITH THE MURDERER FOR THEIR OWN LIFE, AND THE LIVES OF SO MANY OTHERS!
So,
You can take at face value, the propaganda set forth by the people who want to get rid of the Death Penalty...
Meanwhile, I am TALKING with PARENTS OF MURDERED CHILDREN, and VICTIMS OF VIOLENT CRIME -
Now that I AM BOTH...
And the TRUTH of what happens for these people, TOO MANY TIMES - is that their MURDERER who was
ORIGINALLY SENTENCED to Life Without the Possibility of Parole 20+ years ago
IS RIGHT NOW getting parole hearings THAT THEY MUST ATTEND TO ENSURE THE MURDERER STAYS BEHIND BARS...
And the WORST thing I hear from Parents or Victims who thought their MURDERER was locked up FOREVER - IS THE MURDERER HAS BEEN SET FREE!
So - you can choose to trust in that Propaganda… But I'll continue to fight to keep MURDERERS OFF THE STREETS, keep the citizens SAFE, and PROTECT THE CHILDREN from these MONSTERS!
Because unlike you, I survived an attack from a mass murderer... My daughter Saskia was brutally, viciously, violently stabbed to death here in my home!
My husband and another child staying with us over Christmas break were stabbed... And my 13 year-old daughter witnessed all of it!
I live each day inside a horror now, that is
TOO UNIMAGINABLE TO BEAR...
And while you complain about 'money' or 'political views' - I am trying to PROTECT EVERYONE ELSE, from living inside this HORROR
I HAVE BEEN SENTENCED TO LIVE WITHIN!