Families of the condemned feel punished, too

AP via The Austin American Statesman ^ | Sunday, December 31, 2006 | Kristen Gelineau

[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.

[Silly]

Gee, I wonder how much money was spent figuring THAT out.

[null and void]

Cry me a friggin' river.

(Not you Paleo)...

[onyx]

Those families do not deserve to have their murderous thug family member kept alive for their sake.

Sheeeeeeesh.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Well, your article is certainly going to cause a lot more people to barf tonight than over intoxication.

[calex59]

Of course the families of the people these murderous scum killed don't feel grief or suffer loss. If their families get grief and lass also, so much the better. Makes you want to barf when they paint themselves as victims. Where is the outpouring of the MSM for the families of the people who were murdered, the real victims? They don't count I guess, only the families of the scum bag killers.

[calex59]

In post 6 lass=loss.

[RobbyS]

Of course they are punished, but it is not the state or society that is punishing them. It is the relative who did the dastardly deed that caused the state to kill him. It is bas enough when the child or sibling, who has usually been a disappointment all his life, ends up as a murderer and is condemned for it. It is the ultimate disappointment for a family.

[SoldierDad]

"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."

Uh, no we don't. They need to accept the fact that one of their family members did a horrible and unspeakable act and get over it.

[Dallas59]

Pee-uuu. I don't feel sorry for them.

[GSlob]

In Quin or Han China, the perp would have been executed together with his "three sets of relatives" both on his and on spousal sides. So much for "grief, guilt, and ostracism".

[FlingWingFlyer]

Criminals might want to think about this before they go out killing, raping and pillaging. Their "families" might even want to jump in and remind them. Other than that, these pinheads need to stop their whining. If the victim's families don't want these maggots executed, that's fine. I want them executed so they won't make me a victim or a family member of a victim.

[Grizzled Bear]

"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.
__________________________________________________________
Kiersa Paul could not be reached for comment concerning this "death penalty disease" phenomenom.

[Dallas59]

"For Reid, grief remains intense. Talking about her brother's final hours still brings her to tears. "Jimmy's death is still so raw; it's still very, very raw," she said softly. "I don't know when it will pass. Or if it ever will."

Just thing about what that poor old woman went through at the hands of your brother and what her family is feeing. Time to start calling your brother a murderer and get over it.

[Lancey Howard]

Huh. Isn't it obvious that the relatives of executed murderers suffer?
I don't understand WHY this article was written.....
News flash: The sun sets in the west.

Meanwhile, I wish more states would move to execute murdering thugs at a faster pace.
Texas seems to have a pretty good record.

[Lurker]

One has to go a good way into the article to find this gem:

Robert Meeropol was 6 years old when his parents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, were executed in 1953 after being convicted of conspiring to commit espionage for the Soviet Union. He has dealt with his grief by becoming an activist and serving as a voice for children of the condemned.

"This had a profound affect on my life," said Meeropol, 59, of Easthampton, Mass. "It left me with a kind of suppressed rage and anger about what happened that didn't really have an outlet."

An activist? He's a barking, gibbering, howling, shrieking Hate America First-Blame It On Bush lunatic who has been fouling this country with his bile nearly his entire life.

L

[Irish Rose]

I do. But we don't settle matters of law and justice based on fine feelings - not ours or anyone else's.

[albee]

"Since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, more than 1,000 people have been executed in the United States. "You think about the family of the person the crime was committed against, but I don't think a lot of people think about the family of the person who was executed who are also innocent victims," said Melanie Hebert..."

I'm sorry, but I can't seem to turn my sympathy button on. I am saving those feelings the the real victims!

[ItsJeff]

I don't think a lot of people think about the family of the person who was executed...

How cruel of the families of murder victims to selfishly think only of themselves and their grief.

[CAWats]

I don't give a rat's maracas.