Capital Punishment Ends in Canada
On This Day in History: December 11, 1962
In 1992 a six-year-old Edmonton girl named Corinne Gustavson was snatched from her front lawn, sexually assaulted, and murdered. The guy who did it is Clifford Sleigh, and people wanted that motherfucker to pay with his life. But it had been 30 years since Canada executed someone.
--On This Day in History Shit Went Down: December 11, 1962--
I remember the murder because I live in Calgary, a city in the same province, and because it resulted in my writing being published in a newspaper for the first time. I wrote a letter to the editor of the Calgary Herald, explaining that while this guy was a total piece of shit and yeah I wanted the fucker to die too, bringing back capital punishment to our nation was a bad idea.
I didn’t use profanity in the letter, but the premise of my argument was based on the example of the United States. In summary: Capital punishment is shown not to be a deterrent to committing crimes; due to the lengthy appeals process, it actually costs more to execute someone in the U.S. than to keep them in prison for the rest of their life; it rarely offers the “closure” the victims’ families seek; it is unequally applied to poor and minorities; mistakes get made, and while you can let an innocent person out of prison, you cannot make them undead. You could also argue that a state that executes its citizens, no matter how heinous the crime committed, is breaking the social contract.
But! But! Get rid of those appeals and make it more efficient! That will save money! Like the way China does it, where the average time between sentencing and execution is only two months? You want to live in a country where the government pops caps into criminal asses like it’s the national fucking pastime? No thanks. I’m sure some people want their country to be like Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, or Somalia, where it really is a pastime. Meaning: executions are public. Bring popcorn.
Arthur Lucas was a murdering piece of shit. Hailing from Georgia, he was in Toronto when he killed a police informant from Detroit along with the informant’s common-law wife. He was executed by hanging in Toronto on December 11, 1962. It was the last time capital punishment was used in Canada. The country officially banned the punishment in 1976.
As of this writing (2022), the world has 195 countries, and 54 of those practice capital punishment. Of the 54, only a dozen rate as “very high” on the Human Development Index, which basically means “nice place to live.” Ten of the 12 are in Asia. The other two are Belarus and the good old United States of let’s-lethally-inject-this-mentally-disabled-person America.
Clifford Sleigh is rotting in prison. If it was my daughter he killed and he stood in front of me, I’d bash his fucking head in with a rock. But it’s not about me, it’s about what the nation decides is best for all. The nation is supposed to be better than me.
Those who cannot remember the past need a history teacher who says “fuck” a lot. Get both volumes of On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down. They make great gifts, and ‘tis the fuckin’ season!
And don’t forget to
Can’t speak for any other potential criminals, but the thought of spending the rest of my life in prison is way more of a deterrent than a quick jab followed by the long sleep that awaits us all in the end.
I am not a proponent of capital punishment.
While I agree that a lot of the sick, twisted violent criminals are serious pieces of shit, I cannot wrap my head around the taking yet another human life...
And, you are correct that the families seldom find closure in the execution of the asswipe(s) who devastated their families...
• While many would like to see him/her done away with, that sense of finality rarely comes to them.
• Many fight the inner turmoil of right from wrong... yes, the bastard was executed vs the bastard is let off lightly because he can no suffer the rest of his rotting life in prison.
• Many battle the area of uncertainty within themselves that pares the sense of revenge against the knowledge that yet another family is devastated- all for a personal feeling of satisfaction and justice.
• Yes, there is also the lengthy time of the appeals process, further prolonging the agony of the victims' families.
• There is also the fact that there have been many convicted who, due to improvements in processes and technologies, later have later been found innocent, rendering it far too late for the ones executed... they cannot be brought back to life.
• Personally, I am of the opinion that, many prisoners released back into society after being prison for years, commit a crime again to be caught just because it's all they've come to know and find it too hard to re-assimilate back into Society.
• Finally, I wouldn't be surprised if there some on Death Row or have already been executed that see it as a way to commit suicide... akin to "suicide-by-cop".
And, currently, we have a dictator, authoritarian Oaf in the Oaful Office who would love nothing better than to bring back public execution... as a spectacle for all to see, as well as to continuously show his reign as our "Supreme Leader", and create/cause his reign to be ruled by fear rather than respect. He's even uttered his thoughts publicly of bringing back public hangings.
I don't oppose the death penalty for religious reasons... I just base it on the morality of it.