Mac McCann is a senior at Lake Highlands High School in Dallas. He is filled with wisdom . . . or so he thinks. He is anti-death penalty. Or he is until someone close to him is brutally murdered.
He says the death penalty just isn't logical. "When a child lies, do you lie to the child as punishment and hope it will deter others from lying?" No, you spank him to teach him that there is a consequence for lying. You don't necessarily intend to use him as a "teaching moment" for others. You are interested in the child who lied.
"When a child hits one of his/her peers, do you hit the child as punishment and hope it will deter others from hitting? I hope not," he opines. I agree with Mac here. You should never hit a child indiscriminately, but you should smack him on the rear when he misbehaves. God says if you don't apply the rod when it's needed, you don't really love your child -- "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." Does Mac think he knows more than God does?
Mac says it's the same thing in Texas -- we kill those who kill others and hope it will deter others from killing. No, Mac, deterrence is just a side benefit. We lawfully execute those who kill because they deserve it. We lawfully execute those who kill so that they can't repeat their crimes. We lawfully execute those who kill, because we value life so highly that we, as a society, cannot allow those who don't value life to continue to take it.
Mac imparts this bit of wisdom to those of us far less enlightened than he: "No matter what the intentions behind the death penalty are, it clearly does not work." Sure it does, Mac. If you don't believe that, you show me an executed man who killed again.
"Death penalty doesn't work." The Dallas Morning News; January 16, 2012; p. 12A.
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