CAPITAL PUNISHMENT - Part III

A Very Personal Opinion from

a Vietnam Era Veteran

by Alex Hutchins

From time in memoriam, all societies (large or small) have given birth to children (male and female) who after having grown into adulthood, have decided wisely or not so to take another person’s life for one reason or another.  Societies in return have passed laws guarding against this but for all intents and purposes have been unsuccessful in their attempts regardless of the capital punishment that awaits these killers.  And, like the annual cycle of the sun, this killing and punishing is an aspect of life with which societies have learned to live, albeit grotesque on both sides of the fence.

Trayvon Martin

Ever since World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan, soldiers (both male and female but especially males) have been returning home with PTSS or Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome where they are losing the mental battle of dealing with the horrors of war whether it is a scene they witnessed or one in which they participated.  The Art of War has painted them into a corner, from which they have been unable to escape on their own, long after their service to society has been paid. 

Civilians innocently killed in an undeclared war . . .

Yet, there is a majority of these soldiers who simply go about their daily lives and who have the ability to put this sustained conflict behind them.

Why do we have these two types

 of people in our societies?

The actual killers portrayed in
Capote's In Cold Blood.

And, why have we, as a society,

been unable to “cure” them?

So, in both cases, we (society) put these killers in prison, under protective custody for their rest of their natural lives; or, for some, until they have exhausted all of their appeals to stay their executions.  For others, those with PTSS, they were “dead on arrival” or return to the US, forced to live in a prison of life with the memories of their dead comrades.



Electrocution scene in The Green Mild

And, why this comparison of two distinctly different types of killers; because, I wonder what it is really like to take the life of another person?  Not that I am going to find out, but I think about the mental outlook of those who must “flip the switch” on the living because you have been given orders that they must die. 

Who do they pray to “before” and “after” they take another person’s life? 

Yes, we could argue that no one put a gun to their heads forcing them to accept this employment, but still, how do they sleep at night? 

And, are they Christian? 

If they are, will they too be forgiven? 

Do we have a merciful God when we have been unable to be merciful?

For me, death is wrong unless it is by natural causes and yet I know there are certain types of people that want or need to kill others for reasons that we find out later are typically silly and foolish.  But, in war, we are asked to take the life of another without fear or regret, also for reasons that we find out later are typically silly and foolish.  As far as the latter is concerned, there has been no “Congress declared” war so how many of our soldiers should the international courts find guilty of premeditated murder? 

Johnnie Cochran and team . . .

And, is it not ironical that many of these “wealthy” killers go free because they have“bright,” “clever” lawyers whose sole purpose in the courtroom is to create a “shadow of doubt” in the mind of one juror.



So, two types of killers; one, that the Government has trained to kill and ships overseas to perform the act of violence; and one, that grew up that way for no apparent reason but who feels compelled to also perform that act of violence.