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Legacy of Executions

Executions have an unexplainable appeal that many are drawn to. Whether it be the macabre way of how such a damnable machine works to bring about the extinguishing of life; or the perverted spectacle of how much torture one can endure. Many hide behind the moral mask that shields them from being a pact of this blood-thirst and abandonment of life.

These people exist in all manners and walks of life. They usually do not have the slightest ink1ing of why they really support and believe in the existence of executions. Their excuses are normally derived from the shattered lived of legitimate victims who actually feel there is a reason to watch someone die for their sins. However, no matter how you feel the death of an individual brings about "closure" or "deters crime", you cannot find an excuse for the lack of conscience and remorse you happen to possess. The reality is, there is very little difference between you and the predators who walk the roads of murder a d mayhem.

We oftentimes talk about if murderers possess a genetic link with someone within their lineage who themselves was a murderer. In response we want to believe that such an evil could not possibly be passed from generation to generation; and that such science is ridiculous and fruitless. The fact is, no matter how much we want to believe otherwise; there may actually be something to this theory.

While genes clearly show that human features are passed from individual to individual, one could believe that the characteristics of morbidity and evil can just as well surface in generations to come. It's not far fetched when you think about it. After all, executions and those who support it have managed to evolve quite nicely together.

The truth of our efforts to maintain executions and the reasons we include as to why they should exist today has, indeed, been passed from our ancestors. The proof lies in time itself.

In the 7th century, in Greece; the Lawgiver, Draco, issued a code, know as Draconian Law; that punished nearly all crimes by death. Was his decree to lofty in its expectations of a perfect Greece? Or; would we simply deem him as a dictator with no regard for human life?

Mark 15:12-13
"Then Pilate answered and said again unto them, what will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the king of the Jews? And they cried out again, crucify him."
Though ignorance prevails In the face of purity, we began our reign of torture before the crucifixion. Christ died not only to quench the Roman's thirst for death, but as well, died in a way that he was presented to the masses who bore witness to the nails driven into his body and the spear of a soldier thrust between his ribs. Though he was innocent of crime, Christ died in this horrible way because he was a threat to the Roman Empire. Even though his death has great meaning, it was torturous and served a purpose for the people. How do we feel about such a covenant execution? Do we condemn those who killed Christ?

The middle ages brought forth a generation of mankind where executions became almost circus-like in their morbid adolescence. Only at this time in our evolution we have begun to toe the line of some semblance of what we perceive as justice. Justice manifested itself in the form of religion. We have now begun to see fit to kill in the holy name of God. While condemning the Romans as uncivilized, barbaric animals for how they killed Christians and their undesirables; we have begun to practice the worst kind of torture in order to purge evil from our fellowman.

Europe gave history forms of execution that will remain heralded as the worst means of punishment known to man. Whether it be drowning and burning -at the stake for witches and heretics, decapitation for the upper class, hanging for the lower class, drawn and quartering, disembowelment, the iron maiden, racks, or any other macabre means of death; the public was involved. What started out as a means for the peasants to witness demonstrations of religious justice soon became a spectacle of blood-thirst and entertainment. The torture outweighed the very meaning of what executions were really meant for. Once again, execution and its supporters managed to be confused as to why someone must die for crime.

Has this evolution of death, and those who support it managed to cease this madness over 500 years since then?

No, because just as the Romans enforced the crucifixion of Christ as their justice; and the Europeans allowed religion to make them right in their need to kill, we have implemented justice as our scapegoat to execute as our ancestors did. Each generation feels the need to condemn the last for their sins; yet no progress can be found in rectifying these mistakes.

The only thing that changes is the excuses and the means by which we kill. So bent of the desire for revenge and the need to maintain some semblance of justice, is what blinds us to the comparison of ourselves and the very people we want to do away with. We ask Łor respect for human life, yet we show we have no value for life. Our answer for someone' s death, is to kill, just to prove killing is wrong!

The evolution of executions has advanced, not because nature deems it a necessary evil to insure some type of balance is assured for us; but simply because mankind allows such a damnation to exist among us. We strive for the prosperity and education of our children's future, but by our shallow views and complacency towards issues that we do not feel apply to us, we harbor our children from questions and decisions that will eventually be asked of them. And by this, it will be our overwhelming ignorance of what we support, or do not care about, that ensures our children maintain this cycle of death. The spirit of our inhumanity and desire for revenge is what almost guarantees the Legacy of Executions will have a chapter in generations to come.

Someone once said: "The civility of a nation can be measured by how it treats its criminals."

Are we prepared to hide behind the guise of a civil and God-fearing nation, when our appetite for revenge is so evident in the contradiction of our views towards the death penalty? Or, can we simply ensure that the past does not repeat itself because we understand that our decision will have an impact on the future to come?

William Knotts Z-543
Holman 3700, 4-U-6
Atmore AL 36503

July, 2002

Something to think about

Words from death row......

For a full list of articles written by Juveniles on Alabama's Death Row, go to the complete list of titles at Stories.



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