"By executing Brad Sigmon, South Carolina has also executed the possibility of redemption," said one critic. "Our state is declaring that no matter what you do to make up for your wrongdoing, we reserve the right to kill you."
Man, I’m not convinced that this would change much. Nearly twenty years ago, I’d listened to something about the death penalty, in which the sister of a murder victim was interviewed; she was told that there was incontrovertible evidence that the person on death row for her sister’s murder was in fact the wrong guy. She replied, “I don’t care, someone has to pay for my sister’s death.” Because we have the death penalty in place explicitly for the purpose of exacting revenge rather than serving justice, there will always be someone who relishes the opportunity to carry out the execution, just out of blind rage.
Man, I’m not convinced that this would change much. Nearly twenty years ago, I’d listened to something about the death penalty, in which the sister of a murder victim was interviewed; she was told that there was incontrovertible evidence that the person on death row for her sister’s murder was in fact the wrong guy. She replied, “I don’t care, someone has to pay for my sister’s death.” Because we have the death penalty in place explicitly for the purpose of exacting revenge rather than serving justice, there will always be someone who relishes the opportunity to carry out the execution, just out of blind rage.