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Show t I Ben Lomond Beacon. January 3. Sun Times. January 2. 980, Page 2 1 1 980, Page Clearfield Courier, January 2 2, 1 930, Page 2 Murder in the community ..Dr. Wallin By Jeffrey D. Wallin is Associate Professor of Political Science at Arkansas Stale University and currently visiting professor of Politics at University of Dallas. ..Copyright: Public Research, Syndicated, 1979 I Scratch the surface of public opinion on any current topic and you are almost sure to expose a considerable rift between it and the opinion of experts in the field. At least if the experts are also reformists. This is certainly the case in the field of crime prevention. Recent opinion polls indicate that an overwhelming number of Americans believe the courts are too lenient on criminals and that the death penalty for murderers ought to be retained. Indeed, the citizens of one of our most liberal states, California, have voted not to abolish the death peanlty on every occasion the question has been presented to ' them. Yet what generally likes to think of itself as enlightened opinion, continues to criticize the courts for their severity, leaves no stone unturned in the effort to abolish the death penalty (or, failing this, to persuade the Supreme Court to declare it unconstitutional) and often condemns the notion that punishment under any circumstances at all is either effective or just. The evidence in this matter seems to support public opinion. Crime is a serious problem: in the period from 1960 to 1976 serious crimes ( murder, forcible rape, aggravated assault, and so on) increased by 181 per cent. And the conviction rate to say nothing of the punishment rate, is appallingly low: a mere 3 to 4 per cent of all crimes in America result in convictions. Yet reformers continue to argue that criminals ought to be rehabilitated rather than .punished and that the death sentence ought to be abolished. These recommendations are made in spiteof overwhelming evidence that not a single one of the numerous federal or state rehabilitative programs works. Criminals who have been rehabilitated are just as likely to commit crimes as criminals who have not. In a neighborhood on the lower east side of Manhatten a few years ago a young woman was stabbed to death at the d entrance to her apartment. The day before a boy had been brutally murdered, and a week later a young nan was viciously stabbed to death by a burglar in front of us wife. Local residents were outraged and, indicating their! lespair of seeing justice performed, confided to a newspaper eporter that should they catch a future murder suspect, the Dolice might find it difficult to persuade them to give him up. While most of us properly deplore mob justice, we would probably sympathize with the feelings of this community. Not so the reformers and abolitionists. Their written works suggest that they would consider such a response crude, uncivilized, and far more lamentable than the criminal actions which produced it. A recent book by Professor Walter Berns of the University of Toronto, subtitled Crime and the Morality of the Death Penalty, suggests that, on the contrary, the anger displayed by this crowd is, when properly tempered by the law, a necessary support to civilization and decency. To be angry at anothers murder as distinguished from! eing frightened at the prospect of being a future victim, is to admit that one cares for the person murdered. We'&re not at' all surprised that a mother cares enough for her son or a wife For her husband, to hate their murderers. But what about the neighbors in this case? They did not know the victims well, perhaps not even personally. Does not their anger indicate a concern for those whose presence and decency helped to make them fellow members of a community rather than the solitary creatures they otherwise would be? When criminologists argue that such people ought not to be angry, they are saying that we ought not to care for our friends and neighbors enough to be angry when someone intentionally hurts them Ultimately they are implying that America ought not to be a community at all, that it should be nothing more than a collection of individuals bent on purconcerned about the suing their own narrow fate of their fellow citizens only to the extent that they are in some way directly benefited or harmed by that fate. seven-year-ol- ' fj s, Letters to the editor School and Reeves asked Home to remain fair FAMIL'YKLOTHING AT 5 POINTS IN THE WANGSGARD'S SHOPPING CENTER STORE HOURS: Opon Daily 1 0 a.m. to 7 p.nr Friday 1 0 a.m. to 8 p.m. by Dr. Daryl J. McCarty Dear Editor, I made approximately thirty c ran plaints against the dogs owned by Kristine Walters in Roy for being a nuisance, roaming, and for having possession of more than two dogs. A few days before thecase went to court, one dog was gone. She was ordered to remove the other two from Roy City by she finally fouid or they would be destroyed. On a home for one. IcalledRoy City Attorney Roger Dutson to see what would have to be done to let Ms. Walters keep the one remaining dog, under the stipulation that it had to be chained or penned and that she could have no other dogs. Mr. Dutson said no stipulation could be made so I dropped die issue. Now I find out that on that Ms. Walters, Mr. Dutson, and Animal Control Officer Ben Reeves conducted a hearing to reverse the court order, allowing her to keep the dog with no stipulations, unbeknown to me or any other neighbor. The dog and another German Shepherd are still running loose, unlicenced, unvaccinated, and a lot of times unfed, and several other complaints have been made to Animal Control Officer Reeves. the neighOn while Reeves was "patrolling borhood these two dogs ran into the street after his truck, (where he can legally impound them) he paused for a moment watch fog the dogs, looked around to see if anyone was watching him, and drove away. When called about the incident by an irate neighbor, he made up an excuse and wouldn't even go back to fine the dogs for running loose. His previous excuse has been that the dogs run onto the owners property, but this time that excuse wouldnt work. Now, Roy City resident, how many times have you seen Reeves drive by when your dog was loose and have him not fine you or I impound your dog? I know he never favored me this way. If Mr. Reeves cannot treat all the residents the same, I say heis incompetent in his job and should be replaced. He bends the rules for the people he wants to, knows, or who are in toigh places." Check the records to see how many fines Ms. Walters has been given and paid out of these thirty complaints. How often have you had this pampered treatment? Again, its' who you know, isnt it? Shlrli Woodward $80 Mesa Drive Rock Sprlnp, Wyo. 82901 (I lhrednext to Ms. Walters for 8 years until 2 months ago) We all wish to deter crime. But we sometimes forget that arzz. significant purpose of the criminal law, in addition torE providing an effective deterrent, is to reinforce the natural;; bonds of affection and trust that make decent political: community possible. In part this educative function of the law is accomplished by praising those who abide by the law and punishing those wlui break it. To neglect just punishment is to neglect the moral purpose which is at once the basis of the law and the result of the law. Abolitionists and reformers tend to deny the moral baste of the law, just as they tend to deny the moral ingredient in Tiuman action. Abolitionists always make much of the fact that taking a human life, even under all the forms and majesty of the law, is a terrible responsibility. They are certainly right to do so: taking anothers life is a serious matter. But abolitionists seldom bother to explain why this is so. Instead they merely say that every human life is inviolable or sacred. But is it not true that human life is thought to be inviolable because humans are the only earthly creatures capable of moral choice? We do not condemn nor do we praise the action of animals: for we know that while some animals, appear to be brave and others cowardly, there is in their actions themselves neither courage nor cowardice. Only human beings have the capacity for virtue and vice: only human beings can be fully responsible for their actions. To treat them as responsible, whether by praising or condemning their actions is to encourage them to act as men rather than as beasts. To accept the abolitionists argument, one would not only have to accept their premise that the death penalty does not deter crime (and the most recent evidence suggests that every legal execution prevents up, to eight murders). One would also have to accept the view that we ought not to treat each other as human beings or even as fellow citizens. 55 Should we accept these premises, and should we further cz accept the notion that we ought to confine ourselves ex- clusively to those activities that benefit us in the most material ways, ignoring the common purposes and bonds of friendship that distinguish the best human com- - rzz munities, then surely there would be little reason to exact the z greatest of penalties for the greatest of crimes. The ac- ceptance of such a way of life would itself constitute the greatest crime humanity is capable of committing against itself. In the conviction that this is so lies the source of the distinction between a common sense perception of the world we live in and the lifeless abstract world our reformers would EH too often fashion for us. Si- Criminals ought to be punished, and some murderers ought to be executed. Our hope of future deterrence depends upon 3 it, and our concern for tbe innocent demands it. r; . Executive Secretary Utah Education Association Even though todays teachers have some tools their colleagues of years ago never dreamed about, many of the older techniques are still some of the best. This was shown by a childrens art exhibit on the walls of the State School Office in downtown Salt Lake City recently.; It was like many other displays of elementary school students' water color works of art, except for one thing. Accompanying the exhibit was a little poster that was-ErE printed by one of the students teachers. It said: Con Amore is a school in Duchesne County serving handicapped children. This exhibit was created by smallj twisted fingers and damaged brains. Tears and saliva were wiped from several of these.--Ple- ase look, beyond these physical facts and see the beauty- -: and accomplishment in honest freedom. Suddenly, it wasnt just another exhibit of childrens art.z:c Somehow, those paintings were as intriguing as the MonarE Lisa. E Something else was intriguing about the exhibit. Its the3 Con Amore. name of that school : EH It means with love in Italian. "Love is a word we are too often reluctant to use. But itsSH a good word to describe the feeling good teachers have for" students. In this sense, love isnt a gooey, sugary word. It.7 simply means the teacher cares very much about what H happens to students. Love, respect and pride in youngsters were demonstrated-b- y the Con Amore teachers who arranged for the art exhibit- .Those three attributes are. good teaching tools. You cantrH give them away. The more you use them, the more they come; back to you. They work time after time after time in the-- classroom. They work at home, too. Write a Letter to the Editor |