The Blog of Courtney Klocke

News Comment: Should A State Execute A Convicted Murderer So Impaired He Doesn’t Recall The Crime?

On October 2nd, the United States Supreme Court had a hearing about whether a murderer with severe dementia could receive the death penalty. Vernon Madison, the convicted murderer, killed a police officer believing he was protecting his girlfriend. At that time, the jury gave him the death penalty. Madison’s attorney, Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative, stated to the Court that Madison is so incompetent that it would be unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. The Alabama Deputy Attorney General, Thomas Govan Jr., argues the contrary that Madison does know that he is in prison and why is there. Stevenson defended his client stating Madison doesn’t even know where the toilet is in his cell, so how can he remember what he did. The Supreme Court justices have yet to make a ruling, but it seems to be fairly split between them. If the ruling does end in a tie, the justices will have to wait till a ninth judge is elected.

The quotes throughout the article are well placed and add depth to it. I especially like the quote, “how we punish says something not just about the accused, it says something about us.” It makes the reader think of Madison as a person rather than simply a murderer. There are quite a few quotes in the passage, but I don’t think it seems excessive because sometimes the journalist can’t say it any better. The writer also does a good job simply writing an informational story. She does talk more about Madison’s side rather than Govan’s, which makes you want him to not receive the death penalty. Therefore the story does include a small amount of bias.

I found the article very informative and interesting. The author does a good job with organization and her use of quotes to add more dimension to the story. I’ve never given a thought to the criminals that have dementia and are on death row. I think it is a topic that needs to be more thoroughly discussed. I realize it sounds bad, but once a person has dementia it is almost like they regain their childhood innocence. In this case, I’m glad it went to the Supreme Court because it is a really important decision to make.

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/02/653770497/should-a-state-execute-a-convicted-murderer-so-impaired-he-doesnt-recall-the-cri

1 Comment

  1. fuglsang

    Good discussion of quotes, Coutney. This probably began as an NPR audio story (though there is no link I could see), which might explain the use of quotes. This doesn’t look like a transcript, but it might be.

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