I have to agree with the other commenter regarding vengeance being very big part of American society. I think part of it is likely also the severity of pain her daughter likely suffered during the attack. If this was the result of an accident or potentially a more immediate death for her daughter, I’m not sure the desire would be as strong. In the article she mentions as much, but I truly cannot imagine how it must feel to know that your child was essentially tortured to death. Regardless of how long it lasted, she likely died in pain and in terror. I can imagine that her mother thinks the perpetrator should not be granted a potentially peaceful natural death. I’m not saying it’s right, but I think it’s relevant to note that it wasn’t just a matter of immediate death.
There’s still the flaw in thinking that this is somehow going to make things better or more just. Her daughter will still have been brutally murdered and someone else will now be dead. None of the other material conditions change.
I’m not saying I personally think it’s just, but if your personal sense of justice is “eye for an eye”, which is true for a lot of Americans, then I can see how life in prison feels like more of an injustice. To people with a vengeful sense of justice, every day she lives that her victim does not is itself an injustice.
Unfortunately, words like fairness and justice are not objective static concepts. We as a society often determine their meanings and American justice is definitely more vengeful in nature.
Vengeance only makes sense when I get it. This is very narrow, child-like, self-centered thinking, which is on point for American individualism. There is no thought on how things affect anyone else. People will be wronged, some more than others. If the only way you can conceive of to correct a wrong is to wrong someone else, things like vengeance start to make sense. What no one thinks of is escalation and normalization. Then they have the audacity to act shocked or, even worse, defensive when someone kills someone else, eg., when they were cut off in traffic. After all, why wouldn’t you? No one else matters and you were absolutely inconvenienced.
This woman could deal with her trauma, which is absolutely real, but she would rather hold onto it, make it a part of her, nourish it, and pretend that she will be better off after she has vengeance. Healing is a personal journey, and she has chosen to not take it, no matter what excuse she has used to justify it.
I disagree that people who are vengeful only care when it’s for their personal benefit. I think most people who think vengeance equals justice are happy to see people “get what’s coming to them” in general. I think most people want to personally avoid punishment, so of course if they’re the recipient of vengeance then they will deem it too harsh, but I think that’s a feature of humanity, not necessarily the vengeful mind. In societies where restorative justice is more common I’m sure people would also prefer the lightest sentence possible.
Though I think American individualism has myriad flaws, I don’t think more collectivist societies are inherently immune to vengeful justice. After all, an eye for an eye predates America by millennia, and is often considered an improvement as it set a limit on what could be done, though obviously there were other less vengeful laws that predate that.
This is because they never believe they will be the one that wronged someone until it actually happens, or that they will escape punishment if they do. They are completely unwilling or unable to put themselves in the other person’s shoes. Certainly, that’s harder in this particular case. As for the escalation that inevitably happens with vengeance, which is why justice started with the concept of “an eye for an eye”, this just means it gets worse. We are, or should not be at this point, at the brink of civilization. We have more resources and tools to guarantee that justice is reasonably served and society is safe without having to put people to death. People who see that as a viable or even necessary option need to reevaluate their concept of the value of human life. Lack of doing so or being taught that, which this murderer certainly didn’t get early enough in her life, is the root cause of a lot of these situations, and is not a solution.
I have to agree with the other commenter regarding vengeance being very big part of American society. I think part of it is likely also the severity of pain her daughter likely suffered during the attack. If this was the result of an accident or potentially a more immediate death for her daughter, I’m not sure the desire would be as strong. In the article she mentions as much, but I truly cannot imagine how it must feel to know that your child was essentially tortured to death. Regardless of how long it lasted, she likely died in pain and in terror. I can imagine that her mother thinks the perpetrator should not be granted a potentially peaceful natural death. I’m not saying it’s right, but I think it’s relevant to note that it wasn’t just a matter of immediate death.
There’s still the flaw in thinking that this is somehow going to make things better or more just. Her daughter will still have been brutally murdered and someone else will now be dead. None of the other material conditions change.
I’m not saying I personally think it’s just, but if your personal sense of justice is “eye for an eye”, which is true for a lot of Americans, then I can see how life in prison feels like more of an injustice. To people with a vengeful sense of justice, every day she lives that her victim does not is itself an injustice.
Unfortunately, words like fairness and justice are not objective static concepts. We as a society often determine their meanings and American justice is definitely more vengeful in nature.
Vengeance only makes sense when I get it. This is very narrow, child-like, self-centered thinking, which is on point for American individualism. There is no thought on how things affect anyone else. People will be wronged, some more than others. If the only way you can conceive of to correct a wrong is to wrong someone else, things like vengeance start to make sense. What no one thinks of is escalation and normalization. Then they have the audacity to act shocked or, even worse, defensive when someone kills someone else, eg., when they were cut off in traffic. After all, why wouldn’t you? No one else matters and you were absolutely inconvenienced.
This woman could deal with her trauma, which is absolutely real, but she would rather hold onto it, make it a part of her, nourish it, and pretend that she will be better off after she has vengeance. Healing is a personal journey, and she has chosen to not take it, no matter what excuse she has used to justify it.
I disagree that people who are vengeful only care when it’s for their personal benefit. I think most people who think vengeance equals justice are happy to see people “get what’s coming to them” in general. I think most people want to personally avoid punishment, so of course if they’re the recipient of vengeance then they will deem it too harsh, but I think that’s a feature of humanity, not necessarily the vengeful mind. In societies where restorative justice is more common I’m sure people would also prefer the lightest sentence possible.
Though I think American individualism has myriad flaws, I don’t think more collectivist societies are inherently immune to vengeful justice. After all, an eye for an eye predates America by millennia, and is often considered an improvement as it set a limit on what could be done, though obviously there were other less vengeful laws that predate that.
This is because they never believe they will be the one that wronged someone until it actually happens, or that they will escape punishment if they do. They are completely unwilling or unable to put themselves in the other person’s shoes. Certainly, that’s harder in this particular case. As for the escalation that inevitably happens with vengeance, which is why justice started with the concept of “an eye for an eye”, this just means it gets worse. We are, or should not be at this point, at the brink of civilization. We have more resources and tools to guarantee that justice is reasonably served and society is safe without having to put people to death. People who see that as a viable or even necessary option need to reevaluate their concept of the value of human life. Lack of doing so or being taught that, which this murderer certainly didn’t get early enough in her life, is the root cause of a lot of these situations, and is not a solution.