The execution of Frank Atwood.

[Jehanne]

This morning the State of Arizona executed Frank Atwood for the 1984 murder of an 8-year girl; some supporters of the execution stood outside the prison:



I can understand why people are bitter about the murder of this little girl 38 years ago, but it's the "hell" part that I am having difficulty understanding here.

[arewethereyet]

When I was going to Medical Assistant school in Tucson I had a classmate I became friends with who lived on the same street where Vicki's bicycle was found. I remember watching the news, following the case.

My friend was understandably terrified as she was a single mom with two girls and it wasn't exactly the best neighborhood.

I recall seeing the billboards when I would go to Debbie's house to visit.

[Jehanne]

It was no doubt a horrific crime. Wheeling a disabled elderly man into an execution chamber while the only sounds among the 40 witnesses were the quiet sobs of his wife will not bring the dead back to life.

In fact, if there is no afterlife and Frank Atwood passed quietly into oblivion, how is he now being "punished" for his actions of nearly four decades ago?

Granted, a rhetorical question for many here, but, are there any professing Christians left in our house?

[arewethereyet]

I only hope he had decades of misery in prison...no one's more deserving of such a fate.

[Jehanne]

He committed a horrific crime, to be sure, although, his personality and disposition may have changed over the intervening decades. In my opinion, the scheduled annihilation of such individuals' conscious minds only serves to create yet more victims. It's as pointless as painting "Hell awaits" signs.

[Ranjr]

I'm okay with putting down certain killers.  Haven't look into this Frank, but can think of a Frank or two who are no doubt motherfuckers bound to kill again.

[Rev. Rye]

I’m inclined to think that part of the reason they’re so bitter about a murder that happened before I was born is because of something in humanity that loves violence, but is keenly aware that totally indulging in it to their hearts content won’t end well. So we find proxies. Sometimes they’re in the form of sports games, sometimes it’s in the form of violent media. And sometimes, it’s in taking out someone who’s done something horrible. Someone who’s pushed the right buttons to get you pissed off. Maybe it’s something as objectively horrific as murdering a child, maybe it’s something comparatively mild, like making a particularly off-colour tweet. Then they have the opportunity to be held to account for what they’ve done, and it gives you that same sort of dopamine rush.

You want the truth, the way I see it, the only real difference between the people in the photo in the OP and the Social Media Hiveminds that targeted (just to use a highly visible recent example) either Amber Heard or (to a lesser extent) Johnny Depp because they got a bit too invested in a celebrity defamation trial and the larger meta narratives it represents is that the guys in the picture above are at least cheering on a final, decisive action; when Amber or Johnny end up back in the public eye for any reason, odds are, they’re just going to keep repeating the same old shit over and over because they haven’t realized that throwing a shit fit on Twitter isn’t guaranteed to end their prospective sacrifice’s careers.

Also worth noting, while trying to look up information on the crime, I found out that Atwood had to be the one to show his executioners to put the needle in his arm.

[The Architect Of Fate]

Human beings have a strange and savage need for vengeance and retribution. If one wants proof of this look to most of the world's major religions and their  concepts of "justice"

[Deesse23]

I am not necessarliy a fan of capital punishment, but for fucks sake: If you want to execute him, then fucking execute him. Dont wait fucking 38 years. 

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Yanks do like their blood price.

Boru