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May 4, 2006

Laura Ingraham - The Moussaoui Verdict

by Ferdinand T Cat

The main topic on today's Laura Ingraham Show was the death-penalty verdict for Zacarias Moussaoui.

The verdict was that Moussaoui would spend life in prison without parole. He will be kept in solitary confinement and allowed only one hour of exercise a day. The prison in which he will be kept is a Supermax, which is particularly isolated and tightly controlled.

Laura herself was appalled that Moussaoui's childhood was the major consideration in mitigating the death penalty. None of the callers disagreed with her on that point. Those who wanted a death penalty felt that the punishment was not severe enough. Those who were happy with the life in prison decision claimed that it would be a more painful punishment, an opinion shared by Moussaoui's mother.

I never understood this logic. In a capital crime, there is no question of rehabilitation, because even if he lives the guy will never again see the outside of a prison. The penalty should therefore be decided in terms of its effect on people contemplating similar crimes, not on the level of torment we can inflict. If you want the guy to suffer, then we should have him tortured. But of course we can't do that, because even psychological stress is considered inhumane.

The terrorists understand this. They don't kidnap people and threaten to keep them confined forever, they threaten to kill them.

So let's stop playing games here. If you think capital punishment is inhumane, I'm willing to discuss it with you in rational terms. But I'm not going to let you get away with claiming that life in prison is worse than death. The purpose of a capital penalty is to scare the people on the outside, not to torture the prisoner. Trust me, a pointless death is a lot scarier than a pointless life.

Respectfully submitted,

Ferdinand T. Cat

Trackposted to Cigar Torture Agency, Liberal Torture Sense, TMH's Torture Bits, CustomerTorture.com, Sed Toturae, Jo's Dungeon, and Basil's Maximum Security Escape-Proof Blog.

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I am consistently pro-life. I don't believe in abortion or in the death penalty. We need to look at the eternal consequences.


Posted by: Norma at May 5, 2006 1:44 PM

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