A lot has been made over Ariel Castro’s suicide in jail. Some are wondering how this could possibly have happened and question the safety and security in our prison system. I personally am ecstatic over the result, happy he was able to find a nice substitute for rope in the cell. This is the scumbag who, beyond a shadow of doubt, was responsible for 10 years of terror for three Cleveland area women. My only concern is the impact on the women who suffered at his hands over the last 10 years. Do they feel cheated at all by his suicide, or are they relieved to know that he is no longer on the face of this earth? I don’t know the answer to that, but I am very supportive of quick and clean endings in cases like this.
I am not a huge death penalty advocate, and realize the difficulties with society condemning a person to death through its application. I do support it wholeheartedly in cases like this, however, where the crimes are horrific, and guilt is certain. For cases like his, I am a fan of the “take them out back and shoot them” approach to justice. There is a wonderful line in Pulp Fiction where Marcellus refers to Zed as “Mr. Soon-To-Be-Living-The-Rest-of-His-Short-Ass-Life-in-Agonizing-Pain-Rapist.” I wish Mr. Castro could have experienced some agonizing pain before he died. But assuming we can’t go back to a hanging on the public square or medieval disemboweling like the good old days, the next best thing in my mind is to have a ready supply of belts, razor blades, and cyanide strategically placed in the prison cell of a guy like Castro. If our society has unfortunately “evolved” to prevent swift justice for guys like this, then I welcome their decision to take themselves out of the gene pool. I hate to think that we would spend years of taxpayer resources on a guy like that and find it very hard to argue that his action requires any inquiry. I’m glad he is dead.
I promise a more uplifting post next week.
musingsfrommtvernon 