Quote Originally Posted by Johanna
I remember from school something about "crime and punishment" in other countries. There was a horrible film about an American black man from poor circumstances who grew up to be a criminal, accidentally killed somebody and got executed in the electrical chair. The execution was incredibly scary to watch.
It is horrible. But I suppose it must have happened half a century ago, when blacks were still discriminated. Even in tzarist Russia people weren't necessarily executed if they committed just one murder and if there were mitigating circumstances -- like a state of affect, previous clear record, etc. Raskolnikov comes to mind, and some other cases. Their sentences would often be commuted to penal servitude.

I do not believe in taking someone's life just because he did it to someone else, each case needs individual treatment. I've recently re-watched that Sherlock Holmes episode (they're almost constantly on our tv ), where a woman kills a vile, unrepentant blackmailer, Charles Augustus Milverton, who has destroyed not only her life (her husband died of grief/heart attack? when her letters written god knows how long ago were sent him by this blackmailer) but also the lives of dozens of other women. Holmes and Watson saw this woman kill that scoundrel with their own eyes. Yet they do not betray her to the police. I say, they did right! And any normal person will say the same. The same story is if, for example, an alcoholic husband has been beating his wife and children to pulp until finally she loses it and kills her oppressor -- in my opinion, she should be acquitted -- he asked for it. And it's no good saying she should have left him instead of killing him -- in Russia, it is often very difficult to leave one's spouse due to poor housing conditions, and living with an alcoholic is hell.

BUT when we are talking of a person who has killed many times, maybe with special ferocity, and doesn't show any signs of repentance -- I'm just trying to work out the logic of letting him live. I am not personally vindictive, as far as I know, but I don't know how I'd feel if I was a victim's relative and knew that the murderer continued to live...
Chikatilo had a difficult childhood, too. I feel extremely sorry for those children who do not have a normal, happy childhood, but he can't possibly be excused by it for what he's done while being an adult, mature person with family.

I totally agree with the judge:
Taking into consideration the monstrous crimes he committed, this court has no alternative but to impose the only sentence that he deserves. I therefore sentence him to death.
And out of those two persons, who were executed instead if Chikatilo, at least one wasn't a furry bunny either, but a person who'd served a prison sentence for a similar crime -- rape and murder. Which doesn't mean, of course, that his execution wasn't a horrible mistake.

Chikatilo may be a relatively rare case, but just this May a girl went missing in my neighbourhood. She was last seen coming out of a nightclub with some unknown guy. She was found only in September -- raped and murdered -- by a man who was gathering mushrooms in the nearby forest. To be sure, you can say that she should have been more cautious -- the club had a bad reputation and anyway, going anywhere late at night with a stranger is not a good idea. But that's just a lesson for others, which will not be heeded, either. By my logic, the person who did this doesn't really deserve to live. It's another matter that he might not be caught. Or caught only years later, after he's killed a good many other girls. Or caught, found crazy, and therefore not responsible, treated for a couple years in a lunatic asylum and then released to commit more crimes.

Another woman went missing this very spring -- there was a huge uproar. She was last seen going into her appartment block (подъезд) at 00:00 but didn't make it to her flat (her boyfriend just gave her a lift in his car to her house but didn't accompany her to the flat). Later, her keys were found in the lift/elevator. Search groups were organised but it all proved useless. She hasn't been found and we know nothing of her fate but it is utterly impossible she just left without saying anybody because she had a ten year old son and she was by all accounts a very responsible mother who would never have left her child like that.

That said, I'm glad that the punishments aren't so severe now as they used to be. For example, it is my understanding from classic literature that in the 19th century England, people could be hanged for as slight a breach of law as mere stealing.

A link to the discussion in "Литературная газета" -- http://www.lgz.ru/article/10959/