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In light of the triumphalist mood among Trump supporters — and perhaps many others as well — about the news that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi blew himself up as U.S. forces closed in on him in Syria, I thought it might be valuable to re-post this essay. I wrote it in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden during the Obama administration, and its message still applies today.
Those who believe decapitating terrorist organizations will end terrorism, or that such actions are things to be celebrated like the outcome of a football game are deeply wrong, and disturbed (not necessarily in that order). Those who believe in justice, as well as freedom and security must demand a different response to such events for the sake of future generations.
There is a particularly trenchant scene in the documentary film, Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead, in which Blecker — who teaches at New York Law School and is the nation’s most prominent pro-death penalty scholar — travels to Tennessee’s Riverbend Prison for the execution of convicted murderer, Daryl Holton. Blecker is adamant that Holton, who murdered his own children, deserves to die for his crime. Yet, when he gets to the prison on the evening of Holton’s electrocution, Blecker is disturbed not only by the anti-death penalty…
