Well that's the real catch isn't it? I've only just started my legal education, but I can safely say that's a REALLY big catch.
It is indeed, and I think it is safe to say that we won't hash out all the details of that "catch" in this little thread when legal scholars have whole books on the subject. That's why I won't answer stupid questions like "
Exactly what type of psychological tests would you require," or any Larson List.
My statement is based on what I call the rule of absolutes which states, "Absolutes are rare". (I tried saying "There are no absolutes", but I got numerous reminders that the statement is itself and absolute.) Anyway, based on this rule, to which I have never found an exception outside of the world of mathematics, there is likely to be some situation under which the death penalty would be appropriate. It's not at the "kill all criminals" end of the spectrum or at the "never kill any criminals" end of the spectrum (though it's closer to that) but it floats, allowing good and honest people to use evidence and reason to decide when the death penalty is appropriate.
Now, let me give you a little personal story to illustrate in what general region I place the mark.
I have a good friend who was in the news not too long ago. She was in the news because she helped track down Ira Einhorn, the so-called "
Unicorn Killer" who had jumped bail from his murder trial (Yes, he made bail because he had some wealthy friends who paid and vouched for him) and fled to Europe. Ira had almost certainly killed a girl. It was his girlfriend, whose body they found bludgeoned and decaying in a trunk in his closet. He was caught when the neighbors complained about the smell. Ira was a hippy-like guru of the sixties and was friends with people like Jerry Reubin and Abby Hoffman, but he was also well connected and had wealthy friends.
So Ira jumped bail and lived the good life in Europe for sixteen years, marrying a Swedish woman and pretty much living off his connections. He was a silver-tongued devil, Ira. While he was gone, a US court convicted him in absentia and sentenced him to life in prison without parole. Ira might have been thinking, "BFD, it is more work to find me and bring me back than the US will ever undertake." He was actually right in that. What he didn't count on was the tenacity of the private citizens who, for sixteen years, continued to follow his trail. In 1997, they got him, living in luxury in Champagne-Mouton, France. The problem was that France didn't recognize trials in absentia and they weren't sure that he would get a "fair trial" in the US because they oppose the death penalty, so for a long time, they wouldn't extradite him. Finally they cut a deal that he would guarantee he would get a new trial and not be subject to the death penalty.
Ira came home, stood trial, was easily convicted and is now in prison. I know this because my friend who helped track him down was the sister of his victim. She spent sixteen years in hell, wondering if he would ever come back and if he might want revenge on the family that had been chasing him. She can finally sleep at nights. A little.
Now to the point of my story. While Ira is not as bad as Louse, in my earlier fiction, he was a killer without remorse. He never showed any emotion either when they found the body in his room (He claimed it had been planted there by the government because they were out to get him) or when he was convicted. If he isn't evil, then the word has no meaning.
So, do you think I would want Ira executed? If you said "yes" you'd be wrong. He lived free for sixteen years without committing another such atrocity, so it would be hard for me to claim he satisfied the definition of "continuing danger to society". I do feel sorry for my friend who still has nightmares thinking that he is still alive. I can understand why anger and desire for revenge would make her glad to push the plunger or pull the switch or fire the gun or open the trap door, but that doesn't change my feeling that Ira, while among the most detestable scum on earth, is not a candidate for the death penalty. At least, that's what I feel most of the time.
The scary thing is, that as bad as Einhorn is, he is not the worst organism containing
Homo sapiens DNA that is in existence (I hesitate to call them "humans"). There are worse. Meaner. Scarier. Louse is a fictional creation, but he probably has a real analog somewhere. Sometimes in this thing we call humanity, we have to scrape out the cancer.
