Sonspot

My father worked his entire adult life, until his retirement 2 years ago, as a guard at the Florida State Prison. The last 30 years were spent guarding death row inmates. I grew-up listening to his stories about the more famous ones such as Ted Bundy and others. No big secrets, just things like their favorite foods, if they were quite or talkative etc. But to a kid that was really neat stuff to hear, it was like getting a glimpse at the inside of a dragon's lair.

Dad was one of the guards that would transport the inmates to "old sparky" their euphemism for the electric chair. He would stand outside the door until death was pronounced and the body removed. My father is a very religious man, but he never saw any conflict in his faith and his job. Dad's view was that these men had done terrible things the state deemed were worthy of death. He was simply carrying out the will of the people of the state of Florida.

I myself have always been conflicted regarding capital punishment, but over the years I have relegated it to the "necessary evil" category.

A few months ago I came across this man on the radio who was explaining his conversion experience. It didn't take long to figure out that this was no normal conversion, what with his admission to the murder of a number of people, and ultimately I found out the guy was David Berkowitz (Son of Sam). Apparently some years after his conviction as a serial killer he gave his life to Christ, and has since been going about trying to heal the damage he has caused.

This is nothing new in a prison setting, many convicts "convert" in hopes of a timely parole. However, Berkowitz has declined any parole hearings regarding his case, even though he has been a model prisoner for more than 20 years. Now some might say he knows there is no hope of release anyway, so denying a hearing is really no loss. To that I agree, but none the less believe he is sincere in his repentance and conversion.

If Berkowitz would've committed his crimes in Florida, he would've fried a long time ago and no one would've missed him. But New York has no death penalty, and he will spend the rest of his life in prison.

So it begs the question; is capital punishment the right answer? I do know that these people are monsters and few ever become sincerely reformed like Berkowitz (if this is indeed the case). But even if only one out of every hundred come to repentance, wouldn't this be enough to end capital punishment? Personally, I don't know the answer, but I'm more comfortable erring on the side of not killing than I am of doing something that ends any hope of repentance.