Switching gears

Let's assume that legal justice includes some kind of punishment for those found guilty.

Whether the punishment be in the form of a fine, loss of privileges, loss of freedom and/or other.

Then let us assume that punishment is, in fact, punishment, i.e. something the guilty party does NOT want.

The most heinous criminal I've heard about in many years is Messac Damas.

You remember him. He's the guy who is accused of (and has admitted to) killing his wife and their 5 children by stabbing them and slitting their throats.

Real fun guy. He admitted he committed the crime when a Naples Daily News reporter caught up with him in Haiti.

Last week Damas appeared in court as part of the ongoing process in which he will, no doubt, be found guilty. (Let us hope he doesn't use or get off on an insanity plea. He may be insane now, but he wasn't when he was executing his children.)

He begged the judge to 'throw the switch,' i.e. give him and enforce the death penalty.

He wishes the death penalty, he said in order to join his family in the afterlife.

Back to the top now.

Punishment means forcing someone to DO WHAT THEY DON'T WANT TO.

In other words, Damas wants the death penalty. For him, he sees it as no penalty. He'll just be able to rejoin his family.

What justice would be served by fulfilling his wishes? Why allow him to 'join his family' in the afterlife.

DO NOT GIVE HIM WHAT HE WANTS.

Throw the book at him.

The incarceration book.

Give him life in prison without parole. Life in prison in solitary confinement.

Separate him from society permanently.

But don't give him what he wants.

That's not punishment.

And it's not justice.

And so it goes.