Beyond the Pale

Liberals have an absolutely reliable litmus test for detecting assholes.

If the latest horrific murder comes up in conversation and the other guy expresses his desire to see the guilty party swing for it, the Liberal knows without a doubt that his interlocutor is an undesirable.

There are two types of people in the world, people who think there are two types of people in the world and people who don’t. I know, I know. But in this case for our elite epic empathizers there really are two types of people, and your view on the death penalty determines whether you are in their rarified company or with the knuckle draggers.

So with the news from England of evil murder of two unarmed police women yesterday in mind, I am fully aware that I am going beyond the pale when I say that the perpetrator should hang.

The murderer, Dale Cregan, is an underworld one-eyed tough who was already being sought for two murders and the police had offered a reward of £50,000 for information on his whereabouts.

It seems that the net was closing in, because Cregan or an accomplice lured the two WPCs to their deaths with a phony report of a burglary. As the women,  Fiona Bone, 32, and Nicola Hughes, 23, approached the house Cregan  came out, shot them ten times, and tossed a grenade for dramatic effect. He then gave himself up at a local police station.

The popular theory in the local community that Cregan wanted to “go out in a blaze of glory” appears likely considering his next action was to hand himself in for arrest.

When they can be bothered to argue the case against capital punishment, opponents often refer to various partisan studies which claim to prove that hanging murderers is no deterrent.

The above case blows this thinking out of the water. Cregan probably wanted to achieve eternal fame as the notorious hard man who murdered two cops for nothing. So it goes without saying that he needs to stay alive to enjoy those admiring glances from his fellow inmates.

If he had faced the likelihood of execution, his “blaze of glory” would have been rather more short-lived with a much higher price tag looming for payment. If he had faced that calculation, those two young women could well be alive today to fret over life’s trivialities.

The death penalty saves innocent lives.

In addition to giving the Cregans of the world second thoughts capital punishment also saves the lives of those slain by murderers who have “paid their debt to society” and decided to have another go. A report in 2009 on 65 killers released early from their sentences recorded 3 further murders, one attempted murder, 3 rapes as well as many other serious crimes.

The reoffending rate on hanged murderers is zero.

Another objection to hanging is that killing the murderer is just revenge. This is an outrageous cheek of an argument because it is, of course, absolutely true and just that the victims family should desire revenge.

Consider if a loved one of yours is killed. It is perfectly natural to seek retribution. We are denied the possibility of carrying this out personally by the social contract of a civil society. But under that contract the state undertakes to take revenge on our behalf. This objective  and even handed retribution is called justice.

Western states have increasingly been reneging on their responsibilities in this area under pressure from bleeding hearts. So when you next have that feeling in your bones that it’s not right that the latest psycho is being sent to prison to hone his Play Station skills, trust yourself. It feels wrong because it is wrong. It is an offence against natural justice.

The price of mercy for murderers is more punishment for the victims.

Another killer argument against the short walk to the long drop is:

‘I’d agree to the death penalty if I could be sure no “irrevocable mistakes” were made.’

This is a deceptively strong argument, because mistakes will be made whatever the safeguards. It is deceptive because deadly mistakes are, regrettably, a part of life.

Will you stop driving your car even though there is a small chance that somebody will die as a result of one of your mistakes?

The price of the death penalty is the rare case of an innocent being hanged.

And just as you are willing to accept the risk of innocents dying when you drive, I’m willing to accept that an occasional innocent person will be hanged.

Finally, it might be that you are convinced by my arguments, but as a civilized person will not accept the conclusion that the death penalty is natural justice. That’s OK. I’m sure that it’s simply too awful to think of the state cold-bloodedly killing convicted murderers. What if murderers are all nice and cuddly like Morgan Freeman and his buddies in Shawshank Redemption?

Go ahead feel good about yourself.

But while you're at it, take a good look at those  innocent women above. They and many others are paying the price for your squeamishness!