Clicking on banner ads enables JWR to constantly improve
Jewish World Review April 18, 2001/ 25 Nissan 5761

Wesley Pruden

Wes Pruden
JWR's Pundits
World Editorial
Cartoon Showcase

Mallard Fillmore

Michael Barone
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Don Feder
Suzanne Fields
James Glassman
Paul Greenberg
Bob Greene
Betsy Hart
Nat Hentoff
David Horowitz
Marianne Jennings
Michael Kelly
Mort Kondracke
Ch. Krauthammer
Lawrence Kudlow
Dr. Laura
John Leo
David Limbaugh
Michelle Malkin
Chris Matthews
Michael Medved
MUGGER
Kathleen Parker
Sam Schulman
Amity Shlaes
Roger Simon
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
Cal Thomas
Jonathan S. Tobin
Ben Wattenberg
George Will
Bruce Williams
Walter Williams
Mort Zuckerman

Consumer Reports

Opening the door on a grisly spectacle

http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- TIMOTHY McVeigh is a monster, and, as monstrous as the Oklahoma City bombing was, the final act of his life may turn out to be his most monstrous deed of all.

His execution, to be televised (if only on a closed circuit), surely opens the door to making state-sanctioned killing the stuff of Entertainment Tonight.

The families of the men, women and children killed in the explosion are entitled to almost anything they think will give them peace, and only the hardest-hearted among us cannot sympathize with Tom Kight's wish for vengeance and retribution. Mr. Kight's 23-year-old daughter died in the explosion. He is looking forward to watching Timothy McVeigh ride the needle for robbing Frankie Merrell of her life and the Kights of the light of their lives.

"I hope it will give me peace knowing he will be eliminated," Mr. Kight told The Washington Post.

We can all hope that it will, but probably it won't. I've watched two state-sanctioned killings, one by electric chair set amidst the cotton fields of Arkansas and the other by firing squad on a squalid street in Saigon. Everyone who watches an execution comes away feeling degraded. Some of us come away disgusted. Others get over it.

Attorney General John Ashcroft approved the closed-circuit telecast from a federal prison in Indiana after a session with the families who want to watch McVeigh die. Mr. Ashcroft, who has a heart rendered compassionate by his heartfelt faith in Christ, said the experience of talking to the families "changed" him.

Cracking open the door to the death chamber, however, will inevitably invite more pressure on Mr. Ashcroft, and the nation's governors and legislatures, to televise other executions, and soon not merely on a closed circuit. Indeed, certain television producers already argue that watching the state kill, live and on camera, is part of "the public's right to know."

Some anti-capital punishment advocates agree, and argue that the public not only has the right to watch, but should be required to watch. This, they argue, will so shock and disgust the public that a groundswell of public opinion will say "no more." They're probably wrong, too. The first two or three executions no doubt will shock, and even disgust, but after that the shocking power will diminish quickly, and it won't be long until advertisers will clamor to sponsor the show. The pharmaceutical companies, perhaps.

We've come a long way from the time when executions were public spectacles, when the church vied with the state to hang, boil, stone and eviscerate the evil-doers, some of whom were guilty of no more than picking pockets or hunting in the king's forests. Bishops and abbots tended their own gallows, under protection of the king, and monasteries had the right of judgment. The gallows was a fixture in many crossroads towns, and there was the famous story of the shipwrecked sailor who, on making landfall, climbed up a cliff to see a gallows silhouetted against the sky. "Thank G-d," he cried, "I made it to a Christian country."

The most famous of all English gallows was at Tyburn, in central London, and the festivals that attended hangings were merry and drunken. Spectators were encouraged not only to yell at the condemned, but to throw stones, and sometimes there was little left for the hangman to do once the condemned man's procession reached the Tyburn rope. We often see the spirit of Tyburn at the gates of our own prisons on execution day. The Tyburn carnivals ended when the land began to be developed as respectable Victorian suburbs.

Hanging was good entertainment, but real-estate values, as always, trumped everything else. Not everyone was pleased. "The age is running mad after innovation," complained the celebrated Dr. Johnson. "All the business of the world is to be done in a new way. Tyburn itself is not safe from the fury of innovation.

"No, sir, it is not an improvement. They object that the old method drew together a number of spectators. Sir, executions are intended to draw spectators. If they do not draw spectators, they don't answer their purpose. The old method was satisfactory to all parties: the public was gratified by a procession; the criminal was supported by it. Why is all this to be swept away?"

In our improved, modern age most of us no longer want to admit that we kill as acts of revenge, since that is thought unworthy, but to punish and to deter others from evil deeds. But since there is no persuasive evidence that state-sanctioned killing deters others, we are left with vengeance — which we pursue with, well, a vengeance. The television producers are waiting in the wings, perhaps to call the spectacle "No Survival."

JWR contributor Wesley Pruden is editor in chief of The Washington Times. Comment by clicking here.

Up

04/16/01: When the thrill goes out of the romance
04/10/01: We have no bananas, they have hostages
04/06/01: Putting a little face on the China 'crisis'
04/04/01: No caving, please, to the cave men
04/02/01: Child abuse, anyone? Try dodging this
03/28/01: In fear of the peril of the Weak Sisterhood
03/23/01: Dubya disowns the dirt dishers
03/21/01: Why can't senators be nice to Mom?
03/19/01: Knocking hard heads at the Pentagon
03/14/01: Second thoughts on the faith initiative
03/12/01: Getting punch drunk on disappointment
03/07/01: The dazzling triumph of Saddam Hussein
03/05/01: How can a real gent tell the lady no?
02/28/01: Who won that war? Best not to look
02/26/01: Bonnie & Clod, gifts who keep on giving
02/21/01: It's Hot Springs week in downtown Harlem
02/13/01: Some of our riots seem to be missing
02/07/01: When a hate crime is something to love
02/07/01: Lifting a few spoons, cutting a few taxes
02/02/01: A few small surprises and a large lesson
01/31/01: Serving fried crow in the press mess
01/26/01: The gathering storm over Jesse Jackson
01/23/01: A graceless getaway, a graceful beginning
01/19/01: Once more to wave the bloody shirt
01/16/01: Bring on the lions, the clowns are ready
01/12/01: The dastardly plot to restore slavery
01/10/01: Mr. Lott's generosity to the Dems
01/05/01: Looking to the past for a bad example
01/03/01: A modest proposal for Arkansas folk
12/19/00: The reflexive sneer at George W. Bush
12/15/00: Taking inspiration from John Birch
12/12/00: It's time to raise high Florida's standards
12/08/00: A President Bush, and about time, too
12/05/00: Here come the judge --- and he's got a hook
11/28/00: Cry no tears for Al, lawyers are the losers
11/21/00: The useful loathing of America's sons
11/17/00: When this is all over, we spray for lawyers
11/14/00: Something murky in the twilight zone

11/10/00: Something sinister in Palm Beach

11/07/00: Low days in the life of the ruptured duck

11/06/00: A little race baiting in the final hours

11/01/00: Creator gets a hard time on the hustings

10/27/00: The sorcerer rides to rescue his apprentice

10/25/00: The founding father with a story to tell

10/23/00: A lonely passion for religious rights

10/16/00: Spending blood on the folly of fools

10/11/00: A big night for the embellisher-in-chief

10/06/00: AlGore's black problem

10/04/00: In headlong pursuit of the bigot vote

10/02/00: A modest proposal for Rick Lazio

09/27/00: When folks at home give up on a scamp

09/25/00: Gore plot exposed! The secret minutes

09/18/00: Playing politics with the blood supply

09/14/00: Al sets out to find his 'tolerance level'

09/12/00: When it's time for a thumb in the eye

09/07/00: Making a daughter a campaign asset

09/04/00: A footnote to the lie: How he beats the rap

08/30/00: Unbearable lightness of a cyberjournal

08/21/00: Clinton chickens on AlGore's roost

08/16/00: The long goodbye to California's cash

08/09/00: Innocence by proxy is a risky scheme

08/07/00: After insulin shock, an authentic rouser

08/02/00: When it gets hard not to get a little giddy

07/31/00: George W.'s legions of summer soldiers

07/26/00: He's set a surprise --- or a trap for himself

07/24/00: How do you serve a turkey in August?

07/19/00: Would Hillary sling a lie about a slur?

07/17/00: Process, not peace, at a Velveeta summit

07/12/00: The Texas two-step, a nudge and a wink

07/10/00: The Great Mentioner and his busy season

07/05/00: No Mexican standoff in these results

07/03/00: Denting a few egos in the U.S. Senate

06/28/00: Bureaucracy amok! Punctuation in peril!

06/26/00: The water torture of American resolve

06/21/00: The happy hangman is a busy hangman

06/19/00: Dick Gephardt finds a Dixie dreamboat

06/14/00: Taking a byte out of innovation

06/12/00: 'Go away, little boy, you're bothering us'

06/07/00: When a little envy is painful to watch

06/05/00: Fire and thunder, bubble and squeak

05/31/00: South of the border, politics is pepper

05/26/00: Running out of luck with home folks

05/24/00: The heart says no, but the head says yes

05/22/00: A fine opportunity to set an example

05/17/00: The Sunday school for Republicans

05/15/00: Hillary's surrogate for telling tall tales

05/10/00: Listening to the voice of an authentic man

05/08/00: First a lot of bluster, then the retreat

05/02/00: Good news for Rudy, bad news for Hillary

04/28/00: The long goodbye to Elian's boyhood

04/25/00: Spooked by Castro, Bubba blinks

04/14/00: One flag down and two memorials to go

04/11/00: Consistency finds a jewel in Janet Reno

04/07/00: Here's the good word (and it's in English)

04/04/00: When bureaucrats mock the courts

03/28/00: How Hollywood sets the virtual table

03/24/00: Dissing a president can ruin a whole day

03/20/00: When shame begets the painful insult

03/14/00: The risky business of making an apology

03/10/00: The pouters bugging a weary John McCain

03/07/00: When all good things (sob) come to an end

© 2000 Wes Pruden