Dylann Roof, noted white supremacist and murderer of nine Black churchgoers last summer, was condemned to death today by a federal jury, according to the New York Times.
Roof insisted on serving as his own lawyer throughout the trial. The 22-year-old was adamant that his actions in June 2015 were not caused by any mental deficiency and that he was – and – is fully aware of his actions. He was deemed by court psychiatrists as competent to stand trial. He showed no remorse for the murders, and no reaction when his sentence was announced.
The prosecution did not have to do much work convincing the jury of Roof’s baseness, as Roof sidelined his defense and presented no testimony or evidence, in order to prevent any mitigating evidence from changing the course of the case or the juror’s perception of him based on his educational background or family history.
The prosecution spoke at length about the darkness of Roof’s heart. As described by the prosecution, was not only a violent offender, but also a premeditating one, waiting until he was 21 to buy a weapon, downloading a history of the Ku Klux Klan 10 months before the shooting, and using the internet to connect with like-minded white nationalists.
The prosecution even went as far as saying at one point that Roof had a “cold and hateful heart.” After about three hours of deliberating in the death penalty phase, the jury convicted him unanimously.
The U.S. federal government has not killed a prisoner since 2003, and South Carolina, where Roof has a separate capital trial that has been postponed indefinitely, has not done it in more than 5 years.
The case brings up a nagging and persistent question about criminal justice in the US: Should we have the death penalty?
Those who argue that we should have it might argue that it may deter future criminals from committing heinous acts, but this has been challenged many times. For instance, in North Carolina, crime actually declined once the executions stopped.
According to NC Coalition for Alternatives to Death Penalty, given this fact:
“…There is no credible argument that the death penalty deters crime.”
Others may argue that it is cheaper to kill a person than to house them for life, but according to DeathPenaltyInfo.org, the cost to taxpayers is almost $90,000 more per year than cases where the death penalty is not sought.
The moral argument is that Dylann Roof deserves to die. However, our correctional facilities are not solely filled with people that deserve to die, and the death penalty provides an opportunity for us to get that wrong.
In the 2005 movie The Interpreter, Nicole Kidman’s character offers a rebuff to the notion of the death penalty:
“In Africa, in Matobo, the Ku believe that the only way to end grief is to save a life.
If someone is murdered, a year of mourning ends with a ritual that we call the Drowning Man Trial. There’s an all-night party beside a river. At dawn, the killer is put in a boat. He’s taken out on the water and he’s dropped. He’s bound so that he can’t swim.
The family of the dead then has to make a choice. They can let him drown or they can swim out and save him. The Ku believe that if the family lets the killer drown, they’ll have justice but spend the rest of their lives in mourning. But if they save him, if they admit that life isn’t always just… that very act can take away their sorrow.
Vengeance is a lazy form of grief.”
America does have a choice to make of how to manage its grief, and some argue that that cannot be done by becoming purveyors of state-sanctioned violence in order to eradicate violence.
As stated earlier, Dylann deserves to die, but the Central Park Five, exonerated by DNA evidence in June 2016, didn’t. And these two disparate peoples comprise of the population of our prison system.
In an episode of his hit HBO show Last Week Tonight, comedian John Oliver pointed out the irony of voter fraud concerning conservative officials despite evidence of it being very rare, as compared with relative ease about the death penalty, although the rate is higher than that of voter fraud.
The death penalty remains a difficult and complicated topic, and every topic can use some levity. Watch below for John Oliver’s take on the death penalty, and what it costs us.
Featured Image: Screenshot Via YouTube Video.
