Death penalty an option for heinous crimes

Drastic action is often spurred by drastic events.

The recent violent rampage allegedly committed by Christopher Erin Rogers Jr. that left two people dead and three others critically wounded is such an action for Alaska. Accused of using a machete to kill his father and seriously injure his father’s fiancee, then fleeing to Anchorage and randomly killing one and shooting two others, the monstrous violence and callous nature of Rogers’ alleged crimes are again prompting many Alaskans to ponder the death penalty.

Alaska is one of 13 states that hasn’t reinstated the death penalty after it was struck down in 1972 by the U.S. Supreme Court. While the high court found the ultimate price an unconstitutional punishment, it left room for states to make their own choices about imposing the death penalty. Since then, 37 states have reintroduced death as an option for heinous crimes.

Perhaps it’s time Alaska resurrected its debate as well.

Overall, studies have shown that, as a general rule, more Americans favor having a death penalty than not. At the Gallup Poll, one of the country’s leading scientific pollsters and consulting firms, the death penalty is one of its longest-standing poll questions. Gallup has asked whether Americans favor the death penalty every year since 1936, and every year but one we’ve said yes, there are some crimes for which only death is a suitable punishment. Since 1972, support for the death penalty has been strong, hitting a high of 80 percent in 1994. The last Gallup Poll in 2006 says 68 percent of Americans favor the death penalty for people convicted of murder.

There will always be controversy surrounding the death penalty. Some argue state-sanctioned killing is immoral and simply a tidier way to murder a person. Others argue that for ultimate crimes an ultimate price must be paid. Whether or not having the death penalty would deter future criminals from committing acts so barbarous as to warrant it is also a long-standing controversy.

After his apprehension, Anchorage police report Rogers confessed to attacking his father and his father’s fiancee with a machete while they slept. Anchorage police report he then said he believed he would be caught and he “just wanted to kill a few more people along the way.” On Monday, Rogers pleaded not guilty to eight felonies in Palmer District Court, including first-degree murder.

Do the acts allegedly committed by Rogers meet this threshold of barbarism? We believe so, but it’s too late for the victims of this rampage or their friends and family to expect a just punishment for these crimes. We challenge the Legislature to not let it be too late the next time someone decides he or she has nothing else to lose and decides to “kill a few more people along the way.”