Hangin’ Time

By Alan Kleinfeld, 1-03-07

While dining on eggs benedict this morning at a nearby diner, I watched a muted TV as CNN’s viewing of Saddam Hussein’s hanging aired for all to see. They showed all of it except the final seconds, the coup de gras.

I don’t know how I managed to keep my hollandaise and Canadian bacon down, but instead of being upset by the image I began to think how it would affect crime in the US if sentencing like Saddam’s was carried out in this country for those that commit the most heinous of crimes.

From conviction to death, it took only 56 days to do Saddam in. Unheard of, right? But in some strange way I feel the system worked in this case. Imagine how things would change here if we applied the same rules. Especially in NewWest territory, where it often feels like Old West law governs.

It may be a bit too Old Testament, too eye-for-an-eye, but if we convicted, sentenced and executed serial rapists, child molesters and murderers in less than two month’s time, would it be more of a deterrent and prevent criminals from committing crimes? It’s an old debate, but now that we’re seeing capital punishment in action on network TV, it might be worth reexamining.

I’ve always thought that a horrible act deserves a horrible punishment, but I know that in our current judicial system it may take years, literally, for someone to begin paying restitution for the crimes he or she has committed. If nothing else, using the Saddam method of trials would certainly help clear up the log jam of cases in US courts (and that in and of itself is worth something).

And what about all that DNA stuff? In some cases, a convicted criminal is later found innocent by DNA evidence. With DNA evidence that proves guilt taken into consideration within that 56-day period would it reduce crime here?

I’m all for giving it a shot. I somehow suspect that if you knew your hanging would show up on YouTube (and shown 24/7 on Fox News) for the entire globe to see, you might have second thoughts about committing your crime. Come on, how embarrassed would you be to have your noose used as a punch line on Jay Leno?

But what about all the crazies, all those that claim insanity as a plea? I think most people would agree that Saddam Hussein was a nut job. A dictator mentality, he probably thought his Supreme Being placed him in that role. It was his right to kill whomever he wished, right? I say if it can’t be cured with a good dose of electroshock therapy then the 56-day plan for execution applies.

And if an execution is too inhumane, let’s just lobotomize ‘em and stick ‘em in a three by three cell and let them drool their lives away. It’ll save a ton on jail real estate and be a lot cheaper to care for them.

In the end, I think Saddam probably got what he deserved. Would the system that judged Saddam work in America? Hard to say. I’m all for a trial period and then opening it up to discussion on Larry King.

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