By Dee Jay Gordon

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Several years ago, there was a major news story involving a man whose young son had been kidnapped and viciously abused, then murdered. The kidnapper was finally caught in another state and the cops were escorting him back to the state where the crime originated. The boy's father was waiting at the airport, in a phone booth, and when his son's abuser came by that booth with his escorts, the father calmly pulled out a gun and shot the man dead on the spot. Was there a parent alive who didn't cheer out loud when this happened? I'm sure there was, but guess what? They aren't writing this column!

It's a sad day, indeed, when citizens are forced to take the law into their own hands because we can't trust our judicial system to do it for us. Ask your local police officer about the justice system. He'll tell you that he risks his life to make the arrest, sometimes compiling evidence over the course of months, even years. Then he gets into court to testify, only to have some dimwitted judge and slick-talking attorney get the bum off on a technicality. One little error or omission, one line item that didn't get filled out correctly, and guess what? The bad guy walks.

I believe that everyone has a right to fair trial, but let's get real! I am sick and tired of supporting habitual criminals on my dime. And make no mistake, you, the general public, are supporting murderers and child abusers on your tax dollars. You feed them, you clothe them, you make sure they have color TV and cable. You also pay for their education, when many of you can hardly afford to educate your own children. Then, to top it all off, you have to listen to them cry and complain about their treatment. Give me a break!

I am a proponent of the death penalty. Yes, I can say that out loud, have it immortalized in print, whatever. In the past, I shied away from this declaration because some bystander would invariably attack me for my beliefs. "Bah to them," I say. I'm ready to go public. This doesn't mean that I am pro-death. Quite the opposite. I am in favor of law-abiding citizens being able to go for a walkin the evening, let their children go outside to play, and many other amenities that constitute quality of life. It revolts me that convicted criminals have more rights than their victims.

Not long ago there was a major bugaboo about whether or not to notify community members when a convicted child abuser moves into their neighborhood. Opponents cried that it was a violation of the offender's right to privacy. Excuse me? What about our children's right to safety? Maybe the criminal rights activists should set up a community where they and the criminal element can live in peace. Let them babysit each others kids. We'll see how long their compassionate face holds up.

Child abusers and other violent criminals should be removed from society, permanently. I don't want them around me or anyone I love, and I'm certainly not going to pay for their housing and meals. That leaves the ultimate removal. Sure, there have been instances where innocent people have been wrongly convicted, but those incidents are a lot rarer than the media would have you believe.

Recently there was a convicted child molester who made headlines when he asked for the judge to have him castrated. He had served time for several offenses and was getting ready to be paroled. He claimed that he was sick (no kidding?) and therapy didn't seem to be working, and he knew that he would victimize more children unless something were done to prevent it. The judge (egged on by human rights activists) declared that the court could not issue such a "barbaric penalty", whether self-imposed or not. If I were that judge, I'd have gone him one better: I'd have actually flipped the switch on him while he rode Ol' Sparky straight to hell. Can you tell I don't feel sorry for these people? Yes, I confess, I'm one of those right-wingers who reserve my empathy and compassion for people who deserve it.

Statistics prove that capitol punishment isn't a deterrent to crime. I'm sure it's not. Most crimes of this nature are committed in a highly emotional state, and the perpetrator isn't thinking rationally. I doubt they're going to stop in mid-stab and say, "Gee, I shouldn't be doing this...I may get the death penalty." The more practical purpose for capitol punishment is very simple, and it's not about revenge. These deviants won't be able to perform any more atrocities on humanity, because they won't be around anymore.

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