Monster - the movie about Aileen Wuornos

[question everything]

As we were watching the movie on cable earlier this evening, and as we were watching Aileen degenerating into madness, I could not help but wonder what did society win by executing her.

She clearly was mad and needed help. But, of course, locking her in a mental institution would cost the people of Florida, while getting rid of her the way - someone once said - society rids itself from rabid dogs, was better.

And these are people who call themselves "pro-life" who call on Jesus at every turn.

Society did not benefit from her executions; I doubt that future murderers canceled their plans because of her executions; I doubt that any solace came to the families of her victims.

And I was also wondering of whether, if we legalize prostitution, would we be able to prevent the situations that facilitated these murders? Would an Aileen Wuornos be helped before she would sink into the abyss?

I don't know. I suppose I am just your average bleeding heart liberal.

[Tace]

1. It Costs More To Execute Someone Than Life-In-Prison

That was some good movie, eh?

[question everything]

7. Quite Haunting n/t

[Downtown Hound]

2. I agree with you

Also, remember the scene where she tries to clean herself up but can't because of her past criminal record? That's an argument right there for making it easier for ex-cons to re-enter the workforce. How do we seriously expect anyone to straighten themselves out after prison if all they can do for the rest of their lives is work at Burger King?

[MADem]

3. I've seen some tapes of her

Definitely unwell. Horribly, horrifyingly unwell. A very tortured person, clearly.

[knowbody0]

4. thank jeb

for her execution

[Warpy]

5. Good old sanctimonious Jebbie

He executes a woman who was clearly mentally ill but who had some potential as a human being, and forces life support on someone with no quality of life whose family wants to let go.

[question everything]

6. Had to look up to big brother George

who was actually laughing when executed a woman in Texas - Tucker?

[imenja]

9. W's a humanitarian

What do you mean? W is a humanitarian. He pardoned Henry Lee Lucas.

Did he really laugh about the Carla Fae Tucker execution? Would you refresh my memory of the circumstances?

[question everything]

11. Real Bushmen Don’t Cry

Time magazine reported, “Although he was anguished by the decision, in an interview with Talk magazine, writer Tucker Carlson described Bush mimicking the woman’s final plea for her life. ‘Please,’ Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, ‘Don’t kill me.’”

From http://www.badattitudes.com/Bushmen.html

[imenja]

17. Awful

Horrifying. That's the mindset of a man who can bring about the deaths of 100,000+ people in Iraq based on false intelligence and not regret his actions.

[imenja]

8. See "Aileen: the Life and Death of a Serial Killer"

It's a documentary that has been playing periodically on HBO. You can also get it on Netflix. It really makes clear that Wournos suffered from paranoid delusions in a way the dramatic film doesn't begin to show.
The same director made an earlier film called "Aileen Wourons: The Selling of a Serial Killer." I haven't seen that one. It was completed around the time of her first trial, years before she was executed.

[Disturbed]

10. Death Penalty...

is a holdover from less civilized societies. Executing metally ill or retarded people is barbaric. Even more so than executing those that are sociapaths. How much have we as a species really evolved inspite of all the techno advances?

[rppper]

12. I'm sorry folks...she was a serial killer......

she murdered 7 people...in cold blood...her life story is indeed pitiful, but she murdered 7 people. she targeted men who had large amounts of money on them. Richard Ramirez witnessed a murder and was also a heavy drug user at an early age, but i see no one here defending him. i don't see anyone here saying we should feel sorry for Ted Bundy either, or john gacy. they all had traumatic experiences. why is no one defending them? may god have mercy on all of them, and i am no believer in the death penalty in 99% of the cases where it is a ruling, but what did any of these killers have left to give...where would it have been beneficial to society as a whole to keep them around? Aileen Wuornos murdered 7 men, 5 of them elderly. she is no misbegotten saint...she did so with no remorse, and she probably would have kept on killing had she not been caught...3 blocks from my home incidentally. as for the self defense argument...7 times?...i'm sorry, i don't buy it. she carried windex and towels in her purse to wipe away prints...flame away if you must, but i have no sorrow that this murderer is gone.

[question everything]

13. Indeed she was and I am not defending her

I just cannot see what is gained from killing the killers. And, yes, this would include Ted Bundy and John Gacy and others, even Timothy McVey.

Executing the killers do not bring their victims back to life, do not prevent future murders and, as was reported, do not provide any "closure" to the families. As a matter of fact, these families are so consumed with desire for revenge, that when the killers are finally dead, they are left with empty lives.

The only reason for the death penalty is a sense of revenge and this is not the purpose of the penal code. Also, to save on room and board.

For example, I think that Scott Peterson's life without parole will be hell, as opposed to being on death row.

[mitchum]

14. Who killed in order to rob and steal

One could argue that while she was mentally ill, she wasn't driven by the same psycho sexual compulsions found in other serial killers. That is why there is much debate whether she was "technically" a serial killer. Her murders were more akin to the robber who shotguns a store clerk in order to steal and eliminate witnesses.

Like you, I have no sorrow she is gone.

[imenja]

15. That she was a serial killer is not in dispute

The issues under discussion are 1) was Wournos seriously mentally ill 2) the death penalty itself, and 3) Should the mentally ill be executed.

I support the death penalty for no one, including Ted Bundy. I feel no sympathy for many of these murders. That's not the issue. But for the state to sanction and institutionalize the act of killing is morally abhorrent. Prisons and punishment reveal the character of the people who impose them. That we as a society impose death is both a reflection and cause of a deep-seated violence and vengeance that pervades our society. Death penalty is one side of that equation, and war is another. Is it surprising that we have one of the highest murder rates on the planet when we use the powers of the state to kill?

Executing children, the mentally ill and mentally impaired is all the more reprehensible.

[yardwork]

16. I agree with your reasoning

Being against the death penalty doesn't mean being "soft on crime" or having sympathy for murderers.

Two wrongs don't make a right. There are better ways to punish criminals and protect society. Throw them in jail and throw away the key, but don't make every American citizen a party to state murder.

[Disturbed]

18. Irony.

The DP most likely will prolong Scott Peterson's life.