I have no idea whether the man they’ve arrested for the mind-boggling, hideous murder of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin is her killer, but Polimom is hoping wih all her might that whoever the animal is, the police have an airtight case — complete with DNA, an unimpeachable confession, and overwhelming evidence.
Because whoever tortured, murdered, and molested this little girl deserves to die.
In fact, the killers and torturers of all the children we read about have no place in this society, nor do I want to support them in prison even as I pay for the legal costs required to prolong their miserable lives.
I want to be clear here: Polimom does not believe the death penalty applies across the board; I’m not an “eye for an eye” person. However, although crimes committed against young children are, without exception, terrible, there is another level that is above and beyond:
A slain 10-year-old girl’s body, found in her downstairs neighbor’s apartment, had deep saw marks on the neck, said authorities who alleged Saturday that her killer had planned to dismember her and eat the flesh.
From there, folks, the stomach-churning details get worse. Feel free to read via either of the above links, but fair warning: it is graphic and unbelievably grisly. Shades of Jeffrey Dahmer, in fact. Surely you all remember him? His penalty was death, also – but it was carried out by a fellow prisoner, since Wisconsin doesn’t have capital punishment.
There are, I believe, crimes that are so heinous – so beyond the limits of what society can possibly tolerate – that they call for the ultimate penalty, and atrocities like those committed against Jamie Rose Bolin, Dylan Groene, and the many (too many) others are where Polimom draws the line in the sand.
Yes, I worry about the possible miscarraige of justice against a wrongly convicted person. The evidence supporting a death penalty cannot be questionable — but there is nothing extenuating enough to explain or defend these types of crimes; even insanity will not do.
Was the murderer abused as a child? I don’t care.
Was he a good boy in school? Had a good job and lots of friends? No prior record?
I don’t care.
I care about the children who, like my own, are going about the business of growing up right now – today – all over the country. They’re playing with friends, or watching television, or swimming, or crying, or laughing, or being mad…. they’re in the process of learning about trust, and life.
I care about the lifetime still ahead for my daughter and her friends, and all those like them. I look forward to the years of memories yet to be experienced. even while I know that the memory books of the mothers and fathers and grandmas and grandpas and siblings of the lost children are finished now. End of story.
I care enormously about what the family of this Oklahoma girl is going to suffer, knowing the awful suffering of their daughter – that her last moments were full of terror and agony. There is nothing worse than this pain, and they will be engulfed in it for the rest of their lives.
This is the crime that rises above all the others, and for which the penalty must be death.