The experience of others
Victims’ families typically split on the death sentence, says Rob Denham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
“But studies suggest the process is not good for the physical, psychological and emotional well-being of the victims’ families,” he said. “It delays the ability to heal. It delays the ability to move forward. And it provides a false promise of closure for many.”
Sitting through years of court hearings has been described as pulling a scab off a wound, Denham says. “But it’s much more insidious than that. It’s not like you start to bleed a little. It’s like the worst day of your life comes back over and over.
“What starts closure is the end of the legal process. Whether the end of the legal process is life without parole, and no appeals thereafter, or the death penalty, with decades of appeals, will determine when that closure starts.”
Denham pointed us to The Forgiveness Project, which tries to help people who’ve lost a loved one to violence, and to Bud Welch, whose daughter was killed in the Oklahoma City bombing.
“For many months after the bombing I could have killed Timothy McVeigh myself,” Welch says on the website. “Temporary insanity is real, and I have lived it. You can’t think of enough adjectives to describe the rage, revenge, and hate I felt. But after time, I was able to examine my conscience, and I realized that if McVeigh is put to death, it won’t help me in the healing process. People talk about executions bringing closure. But how can there be closure when my little girl is never coming back. I finally realized that the death penalty is all about revenge and hate, and revenge and hate are why Julie Marie and 167 others are dead.”
It’s easy to understand why any one of the Parkland families would want the worst for Nikolas Cruz. If you were in their shoes, you’d probably want to kill the monster, too. And if that is what they decide, we must honor their decision.
Actually, the decision is Satz’s to make, but should the families largely decide to accept the offer on the table, he’d be hard pressed to ignore their wishes.
Before following the prosecutor’s lead, we encourage the survivors and victims’ families to carefully study the road ahead and decide together what they want, just as they did before going to Tallahassee.
Is it worth a 20-year journey to execute Cruz? Families who’ve gone before them have said otherwise. Even when the execution finally happens, some have said it didn’t have the effect they’d hoped.
Only the injured and victims’ families know what’s ultimately right for them. And the answer may take some time. But speaking as people who care, we suspect the better course is to send Cruz to prison for life and throw away the key.
Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O’Hara, Elana Simms, Andy Reid and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson.