So the verdict is in on Moussaoui: life in prison, no parole. Right up-front I'll say I do not believe in the death penalty. It is impossible to apply fairly; those who can afford council will not be sentenced to death (they may not even be convicted). Poorer people in death penalty cases are far more likely to be sentenced if innocent. With the legal system in this country, it will never be a just solution. Even that aside the death penalty is premeditated murder (i.e. first degree murder). In what way does a society demonstrate that it is better than a murderer if they murder the guilty? Humanity is what we should strive for in justice. We can prove our moral, ethical, human high ground by refusing to stoop to the level of the killer.
Back to Mouissaoui... I do not think he would have been a martyr if he had been sentenced to death. I think that he would have said "I win...you lose" no matter what the verdict had been. I think that, until he is truly sorry for what he did, until he can be tormented by the memories of the deaths he caused, he will never receive an appropriate punishment. He may never get there, but excecution would have made it more certain that he would not.
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