re: #338 Kruk

No, not harsh, but I believe being tried, convicted and executed by due process of law is a much more fitting fate for a cop-killer. If he dies in a hail of bullets, he will both get a quick death and (sad as it sounds) become a hero in some circles. If he gets the needle, he’ll be just another murderer.

I would prefer that. Not least because that process (the trial and conviction and punishment awarded lawfully) is often much more helpful to the victims and survivors and families.

There’s some sort of brute emotional satisfaction in the notion of fitting (eye for an eye) justice, and in the immediacy (no drawn out process), but many families have struggled because of the lack of the legal process when someone can never be brought to trial because he’s dead— no chance to face them, no chance to say what this person did, maybe most of all never any chance to confront them and say, Why? and This is what you did to us, this is who that person you killed was.

In any case, I would prefer due process, trial, conviction and punishment for lots of reasons, but the above is one people should consider too. It’s easy to make an emotional appeal. Too easy.