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Editor:
I write in response to the Wildcat's editorial "Dead Right" which appeared on August 28 and lauded the death sentence penalty given to Beau John Greene, the convicted murderer of music professor Roy A. Johnson.
I personally know the Johnson family; I went to the same church as they when I was younger and attended Sunday School classes with their daughter. I remember Roy Johnson as being a gentle and loving man who possessed great generosity. I was horrified and sickened when learning of his brutal murder. I cannot, however, reach the same conclusions about the application of the death sentence to his murderer as the Wildcat editorial.
Your editorial indicates that we "cannot as a society be afraid to put those people [murderers] to death." If this indeed is the case, why foist the responsibility for execution on the "state" and the prison system? Why not let the citizenry execute the c riminal themselves?
Perhaps we could stone the offender to death or beat the criminal senseless in the proverbial village square. I think many people would indeed be "afraid" to kill the offender themselves but are willing to let the government perform an action that they pe rsonally would feel sickened to perform.
You accurately call the death penalty a "barbaric" punishment. Technology can make it seem efficient and antiseptic, but I agree with your assessment that it truly is "barbaric." Your conclusion, however, that this punishment is needed to eliminate "barba rians" is deeply flawed on many levels. It indicates a profound "us versus them" mentality which, in fact, contributes to isolation, alienation and violence and displays a short-sighted perspective.
Are we supposed to merely label people "barbarians," execute them, and expect that the ever-widening circles of violence in our society will magically go away? Do we naively believe that executions by the state will cause violence to stop because people w ill fear the death penalty? Most offenders do not display the maturity of thought and emotion necessary to assess the consequences of their actions, which is precisely why they become offenders. Do we think they're going to calmly assess the death penalty before taking action?
Until we, as individuals and as a society, recognize our own contribution to violence through our callous lack of compassion and insipid passivity, we shall simply continue to evade true responsibility by killing the symptom of our disease while wondering while the disease rages unabated. Truly barbaric acts are only overcome by nonviolence; we must be willing to engage in love rather than "barbaric punishments" if we want to achieve a long-term resolution to violence.
Shelly K. Dorsey
tutor for Writing Skills Improvement Program
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