[Paleo Conservative]

I saw this article in my local fishwrap today and thought Freepers would "appreciate" it.

The whole title was too long for the Free Republic posting page, so I have copied it in full below.

Families of the condemned feel punished, too

After executions, relatives of killers experience grief, guilt, ostracism.

[PeteB570]

Notice how to the MSM everybody is a victim - except the real victim?

[SAMS]

Well, then this will give criminals something else to think about won't it?

[Feckless]

Back when I carried a 9mm (I have yet seen the light and IT shines through .44 holes) I was discussing the Black Talons in my CZ's clip with a co-worker. She was upset that I carried bullets that were "designed to maim and kill" (Yes she was a blonde, duh!). I made the remark that if they made a bullet that would not only kill the scumbag targeted but also his mother for bringing him into this world I'd buy a truckload.

No other story, this just brought back fond memories....

[William Terrell]

So. We should not remove a deadly threat to the population because it will hurt a family member's feelings?

[metmom]

The clock in the kitchen of her Charlottesville home ticked down the final minutes. Just after 9 p.m., she clutched her mother and began to cry. In Virginia's death chamber, James Reid was receiving a lethal injection, his punishment for murdering an elderly woman.

Probably much the same reaction that the victims of any of these murderers felt when THEY received the news that their loved one was brutally murdered; but those families never had the chance to prepare themselves mentally for it to happen. It's no secret that it's going to happen in this case.

No bleeding heart sob story is going to change my mind about capital punishment.

[VanB]

"Since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, more than 1,000 people have been executed in the United States."

How come the idiots in the media fall over themselves reporting exactly the number of troops killed in Iraq the minute one dies, but they can never reveal the number of wasters of oxygen that have been executed? Is it some kind of big state secret or something?

[xJones]

"These are victims, too," said Susannah Sheffer, co-author of the report, which is based on interviews with 36 relatives of executed inmates across the nation. "These people exist, they are harmed, and we need to address that harm."

These people STILL exist, they're not dead unlike their loved ones' victims. We could begin to address that harm by having them listen to the pain, the harm, that was done to the families of the innocent murdered victims - as if they would care about that.

[K. Anderson]

While I am a firm believer in capital punishment, I also know that the families of inmates are victims themselves...not of the state, but of their law-breaking relative. I work with the children of inmates, some as young as four and others as old as seventeen. Most live in poverty...daddy is in prison, not at work. As if the emotional roller coaster of being a teenager is not enough, they have the additional burden of shame, guilt, and embarassment. Many are ostracized at school due to the stigma of having an incarcerated parent. These children suffer daily, and I would never dream of telling them to suck it up and get over it. Regardless of one's feelings on crime and punishment, it needs to be recognized that there are other victims of a criminal's actions aside from the obvious. That their victimization stems from their relation to the inmate does not make it any less real or any less painful.

[RedRover]

"These are victims, too," said Susannah Sheffer, co-author of the report...."These people exist, they are harmed, and we need to address that harm."

LOL! That's one for the "liberals say the darnedest things" file.

[montag813]

"Creating More Victims: How Executions Hurt the Families Left Behind," by Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights

Don't you just love these Orwellian titles that the enemy left comes up with? I am waiting for the "Military Families for the War Crimes Prosecution of American Soldiers"

[pinz-n-needlez]

From the Where Are They Now? file....

~"These are victims, too," said Susannah Sheffer, co-author of the report, which is based on interviews with 36 relatives of executed inmates across the nation. "These people exist, they are harmed, and we need to address that harm."~

Happy New Year!

[BunnySlippers]

They can forever remember their family member who inflicted the pain on them.

[Hildy]

The great Utopian dream...NOBODY FEELS ANY PAIN IN THEIR LIVES. What a crock.

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

I'd need to know more about the "cases" selected here in order to have too much compassion. For example, there was a recent case where the wife of the accused rapist provided a false alibi for him (that was pretty quickly disproven). If a spouse looks the other way (I mean, how do you not know your husband is a serial rapist????) or even tries to help the criminal, then yes, they should be treated as a pariah...

[ADemocratNoMore]

> "When somebody says, 'How did your husband die?' and you say, 'Oh, he was executed by the State of Texas,' their hand leaves you and they walk away as if you are contagious with this death penalty disease," said Christina Lawson, whose husband, David Martinez, was executed last year for the rape and murder of Kiersa Paul, a 24-year-old University of Minnesota student, on Austin's Barton Creek greenbelt in 1997.

"When somebody says, 'How did your husband die?' and you say, 'Oh, he was executed by the State of Iraq,' their hand leaves you and they walk away as if you are contagious with this death penalty disease," said Sajida Hussein, whose husband, Saddam, was executed last week for the rapes, tortures and murders of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians. On the brighter side of things, Saddam now gets to spend quality time with his sons Uday and Qusay, who were permanently transfered to Hell some time ago. They could not be reached for comment.

[freekitty]

So society is suppose to let murderers live their lives out?

[kalee]

I'm sorry for them. I realize it must be horrid to believe that someone you know and love could commit a crime as awful as murder or rape, but justice demands some type of reparation and the death penalty is allowed in this country. The family members need to place the blame where it lies with their family member who committed the crime that led to his/her execution.