It's Monday again. Monday is for serious thoughts, right?
One serious thought that's been running through my head a lot as the media flogs it is the trials for the 9/11 suspects. A lot of people are vocally outraged by the fact that these will be civil trials and they will be held in New York City ("Just blocks from the World Trade Center site. BLOCKS I tell you!" No offense but, we in New York City are aware of the proximity of the court to the site. Thanks for double checking, though.) It seems to me that this vocal opposition is, by and large, from outside New York City. NYC residents are polling a majority in favor, or at least unopposed, to the location. It's not an overwhelming majority but it still chimes with a tone similar to my friend's thoughts in September of this year.
The arguments I'm hearing are that it's dangerous. Having these trials will make life in NYC dangerous. No one addresses what killing the suspects in another location and without due process will do so I'll speculate. I think it might make life in NYC (and DC and the occasional airport and maybe some other places) dangerous. I'm just saying we don't get much below an orange threat level in the city lo these 8 years so you have to kind of think of dangerous as a relative term. I live in the flight path of an airport with a history of catastrophic bird strikes. My dog was just fine and then she died. Life is, all around, a bit precarious.
You have to know I'm in favor of due process. You have to know I'm highly conflicted about the death penalty. You have to know I wonder why the residents' concerns in this particular debate aren't at least slightly more weighted.
I can't solve the whole conflict I'd just like to know one little thing. These people who don't live here and probably don't ever want to visit a danger zone like our home are vehemently opposed to putting us in more danger (in this one particular way). Why do they care?
Monday, November 23, 2009
A Question That May Be Annoying
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
THANK YOU!
ReplyDeleteYou have confirmed my belief that NYC and its citizenry would have few objections, and in fact would approve of the venue. And I think the objections were a slap in the face to the hard working members of law enforcement that have sacrificed much for the city...but that's just me, writing like a melodramatic comic book character.
The trial for the Oklahoma bombing was in Denver I believe...which I get, easier to have a trial by jury without prejudice somewhere else, (but really, who are we kidding? There will be prejudice about blowing up buildings no matter where it's done and where the trial is.)
ReplyDeleteAnyway...to my point....a lot of the families traveled to Denver for the trial because they needed to sit in that room, or be nearer. They needed to be there. To look death in the face. Closure.
so, I get that, too.
Maybe it needs to be here. So people have an opportunity to say, "Stand in front of me and tell me what you did. Stand here on this spot."
Right after I posted this I overheard a woman in my office (who lives in NJ btw) tell someone on the phone that she didn't want the trials here. She thinks they should be in DC. "They got bombed there, too, didn't they?" she said snidely, "We have enough to deal with here." 'Cause other people in other places that have been bombed, they deal with less than we do. Seriously?
ReplyDeleteI think you're both on to something there. Have you heard the planned defense? They are, if I understand correctly, going to plead guilty and just explain why they did it. I guess the point would be to keep from being executed because their reasons are "good enough." Especially if that is the plan then yes, "Stand here on this spot" and tell me why you broke my home.
Interestingly, I hadn't thought through the jury prejudice question yet. CO seems far too close even to have found objective jurors for OKC. But I suppose you can find objective jurors close, it's just a matter of finding enough people unconnected to the event and acceptable to both sides of the case. Weirdly, if any of this polling is to be believed, their best bet at an objective jury will be closer to NYC rather than farther away. Perhaps that more practical concern played the bigger part in this decision.
Why do they care? They don't. They're just scared little shits pretending that their fear is strength. Screw them.
ReplyDelete