Musing
I wonder if, when talking about sentences of the death penalty in the US, news outlets said “John Doe has been sentenced to be murdered by the state executioner” instead of “John Doe has been sentenced to death”, would it be more or less popular?
The phrase “sentenced to death” suggests that it will just happen, and that nobody (and no entity) is actually responsible for the act, which given that the death penalty is most often used in murder cases (where the accused is being held responsible for their act), seems a bit rich.
If a state—that is, those acting on behalf of the people in the state—are going to take away a human being’s life, then the citizens should be reminded of what it is that they’re allowing to happen on a regular basis.
What about a postcard? Every month, if there were any executions, the residents of Texas get a little postcard reading “In January 2009, your tax dollars and continued support allowed the State of Texas to murder 5 convicted criminals. Don’t forget to vote on Saturday 9th May!”
Just a thought.
