"Honey, there are some really bad people in the world." This is the warning we routinely gave to our daughter as we instructed her not to respond to the initiatives of strangers. And it is surely the advice that parents everywhere give to their children. In the academic world, however, such advice is considered "simplistic." Many sociologists like to emphasize that human behavior cannot be reduced to categories of "good" and "evil." Why, then, do people do horrible things? Our Solomonic scholars inform us it is because something else made them do it. For years the fashionable opinion was that "society made them do it." Now the fashionable view is that "genes made them do it."
Let's examine these theories in light of the Connecticut murders. Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes had a history of burglary: each of them had more than 20 prior burglaries on their records. Even if we assume that they were stealing out of necessity--a stretched assumption--that does not even begin to explain their actions in this case. They beat the mother, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, with a baseball bat and threw her down the stairs. Then they raped and strangled her. They tied the two daughters, Hayley and Michaela, to their beds, raped them, and then poured gasoline around them and burned them to death. The father remains hospitalized with head injuries. None of this extreme violence seems explicable on the grounds that the the two suspects needed to steal.
It seems equally absurd to say that genes made them do it. No one denies that our actions are influenced by our genes, but can any reasonable person maintain that humans don't have some degree of free will? Yes, there are reasonable people who say that, such as biologist E.O. Wilson and philosopher Daniel Dennett. According to these wise men, all our actions have biological causes and free will is an illusion. But if this is so, then all of morality is an illusion. Whenever we say to someone, "You should do this" or "You shouldn't do that," we presume that he has a choice in the matter. Ought implies can. However screwed up the murderers might have been, can anyone deny that they chose to do what they did, and consequently that they should be held responsible for their actions?
If neither society nor genes made them do it, what did? The third possibility is that they did it because they are evil. This option, so easily scorned by sophisticates, is actually the clearest and most satisfying description of the facts before us. This was an evil act, and it was done by some really bad people. Evil inspires indignation, and this indignation is not a mere emotional response but reflects a rational comprehension of the horror that has been perpetrated. The instinct that says "Give them the death penalty" is more than a call for vengeance; it is also a call for justice. We do not have the right to forgive crimes perpetrated against other people, only those perpetrated against ourselves. It is time to hold the bad guys responsible. I hope that Connecticut hasn't unplugged its electric chair.
Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 3)
16. The problem is the ignorant media telling everyone that genes "control" our behavior, which is completely untrue. A gene is a segment of DNA that contains information, but not every gene is expressed. A brilliant article in Newsweek a couple weeks ago talked about how the brain is not as hard wired as we originally thought, but rather can change and is influenced by our environment. Likewise, certain genes will only express themselves in certain conditions, but not all the time.
On another note, people are not born evil, but learn to do bad things. It is not a secret that those who commit horrific crimes do not exactly grow up in a loving, positive environment. Many who molest children have been molested themselves, many who abuse spouses have witnessed a parent being abused, etc. A well known hit man called the Ice Man was interviewed on tv by a psychiatrist, who explained to him how his very violent childhood contributed to his life of murder. It doesn't excuse them, it just helps us understand their actions.
Jane at 7:30PM on Jul 26th 2007
17. I'd like to add that in a lot of places, those guys would never have made it to the station alive--and that scenario would've been best here, too. Sorry if that's an unChristian sentiment. Those guys are eating up our tax dollars every minute of the rest of their lives, which typically might be a number of years.
michael white at 7:32PM on Jul 26th 2007
18. When a person or persons commit murder,the victim, or victims,are denied judge,jury,or appeal.They are granted only the executioner.Society then grants the executioner the very rights denied to the victim(s).If the executioner is sentenced to execution,what sane person can find fault with that?
bob at 7:44PM on Jul 26th 2007
19. Predictably, you miss the point. What, bright lad, is "evil"? Obviously, killing a family for no reason is evil. Are the US soldiers in Iraq evil when they do the same thing---when they rape, murder and kill those who have not attacked them? Ask some Iraqis; I bet their perspective would astound you. And while you rail against their perspective and defend your own, you too would be an apologist for evil. Someone ought to ask these people why they killed this family. Bet you they get a response that goes something like; "It just got out of hand."
Alex Hamilton at 7:46PM on Jul 26th 2007
20. I believe that the two men are just plain evil. I hope I'm wrong but, for some reason I think the father is involved.
LuciLiu2 at 8:06PM on Jul 26th 2007
21. I believe that we choose to follow inner light or inner darkness. Our choices are made by our own free will. The more correct choices we make that are good, then the closer we get to the inner light (GOD, ALLAH, JEHOVAH....whatever you like to call the creator of all things). The wrong choices cause darkness and more wrong choices cause more darkness. The creator of the universe (a belief of mine) created certain physical and spiritual laws for us to follow and when we don't, he allows us to go down our own wayward path. We get closer to darkness (Christians call this a spiritual being, the devil). And darkness eventually destroys. I once heard a pastor talk about sin (missing the mark). He told a story of a wolf that came upon a knife buried with the handle in the ground. The knife was covered with frozen blood. The wolf licked and licked to his delight, only to find the more he licked the more blood he encountered. The wolf did not realize that his tongue has become numb due to the cold and he did not realize the knife was cutting his tongue to shreds. It did not take long for the wolf to die from lack of blood. So it is with wrong choices. After a while, you become unaware and desensitized. The farther you get away from the light, your conscious becomes numb and it unable to distinguish between good and evil. And here we have two men destroying a family and their own lives. They might not have ever had any light, but whatever light they had was obviously extenguished by their life choices. It was their choice, their own free will in play. Take the genetics angle and throw it in the garbage and all of the other explanations too. That's what is wrong with our society I am afraid. Let's always blame something else, rather than the person doing it.
Kemal Sanli at 8:22PM on Jul 26th 2007
22. I struggle with the idea of the death penalty except in cases like this, where the perpetrators are caught and there is no doubt. To enter someone's home without provocation, to destroy innocent life so horrifically, has no excuse that any court should find justified. We need to stand up for the victims! Why do we waste so much money and time on cases like this? These men, and criminals like them, should be immediately be put down like rabid animals- not locked away to become a drain on our system. Then their bodies can be used by medical students. At least that way they will be able to make some small contribution to society. This planet, in its state of overpopulation and environmental concerns, just doesn't have room for predators such as these animals.
Lori at 8:34PM on Jul 26th 2007
23. Anyone who has had any life expreience in the real world doesn't need a Stanford Fellow to tell them that real evil is out there.
Grisha at 9:08PM on Jul 26th 2007
24. THERE IS MOST DEFINITELY EVIL IN THIS WORLD AND THERE ALWAYS HAS BEEN. THESE PEOPLE must pay their debt to society.......I say lock them up and throw the key away, or better yet save my taxpayers monies and do away with them!!!
irma F at 9:09PM on Jul 26th 2007
25. Mr. D'Souza is making 'mistakes' all over the place here.
He says, "According to these wise men, all our actions have biological causes..."
NOT TRUE. 'Environment is a huge contributor to our 'fates'. Nobody can deny this... but DD CAN ignore it for his own ends.
Anyone tending towards 'evil' would be empowered by teaming up with others with the same tendency... isn't that simply obvious?
Have you ever been dared to do something? I'll bet you it was a 'bad' thing that you were dared to do!!
For all of you that think as freely as DD, I dare you to really examine the notion that you are not thinking freely at all... your mind is made up.
DD seems to be saying that the 'free will' way to imagine free will itself is to think like him... like he thought yesterday... like he thought as far back as he can remember first considering the subject of free will ... and the reason that he first came to believe in it.
These two horrible boys met by fate and egged each other on... each individual horrible boy was influenced by his environment, the other horrible boy.
If you are like DD, you are probably thinking,
"Nice try, but no dice!!" ... but... examine your motives for this way of thinking... if you think that you CAN!!!
I think that the boys have stepped over the line... they should be imprisoned for life. They probably won't care if they are condemned to death.. and they DEFINITELY won't care after execution.
To put that another way... society is not at liberty to forgive these boys for these heinous acts... society has no real 'free will' in this matter.. just a choice ... but the members of society who's choice it will finally be have already made up their minds...no?
pboyfloyd at 9:10PM on Jul 26th 2007
26. They knew right from wrong and it was something that they chose to do. They made the choice to do wrong and now it is time for them to reap the consequences of their actions.
carole at 10:19PM on Jul 26th 2007
27. Look, those of you that say the death penalty is barbaric and evil aren't using the least bit of logic.
For one... we now do lethal injections, which is by far not barbaric, but "humane".
I consider myself somewhere middle of the road in the realm of left and right, although I lean more towards a liberal point of view.
But regarding these murders... to say it was done because these men are "evil" seems right. I don't buy that it is genetic. Sure, genetics plays a part in who we are, but we still have free will. I'd be more apt to believe these two are simply insane. Thy lack some switch in their brain that tell them what they should or shouldn't do.
This doesn't excuse them, though. It doesn't mean we should lock them up in a mental hospital. I don't buy that a crime like this can be blamed on mental illness. There is a difference between mentally ill and criminally insane.
Sociopathic individuals can not be helped. You could present me with all sorts of studies, but in then end the majority of these people will coninue to cause harm to others and therefore should be removed from society. It is painfully obvious that a greater deterent than lock up is needed to stop these sorts of people from running around killing and raping.
Tom at 10:42PM on Jul 26th 2007
28. Evil is less of a mystery when we understand that it is universal and common. Most occasions of evil may be trivial compared to the murders described. For example, we can be flippant or angry with those we love when we’ve had a bad day and a splitting headache, behavior which we would not have otherwise exercise without having had the bad day.
This small example illustrates that there are many variables that precipitate and mitigate evil, and one of these variables is free will. But Christians, for example, hold that judgments of the soul are always wrong, not in the sense that we can not prosecute and punish extremely evil behavior, but in the sense that it is not humanly possible for anyone to ascertain all the variables of behavior that occur in another human being's behavior. It is a matter for God alone to judge.
It is wrong for social scientists to get involved in metaphysical value judgments and declare there is no free will. It is also wrong to flippantly dismiss whatever predisposing physiological and psychological variables that may weaken the moral resolve of a very weak person. It is not useless, for example, to find simple jobs that provide stability and dignity to the mentally ill, something conservatives of two generations ago use to advocate.
Ed at 10:50PM on Jul 26th 2007
29. John 8:1Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
2And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
3And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
12Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
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He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at the murderers.
If any one of us deserves to die, so do all of us, for we are all under sin.
Some of you call for the murderers to be tortured and executed. Do you pretend to not be murderers yourselves? It is manifest that you are in that you show hatred for the murderers, who are your brethren.
1 John 3:
"14We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
15Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."
Do not be hypocrites. Love your brothers like yourselves. Keep the commandments of the Lord. This is a Christian nation.
Revelation 3:
19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
God bless you all.
The Voice at 10:58PM on Jul 26th 2007
30. I know there is no proof, but I agree that the father might be invovled a la Scott Peterson. It might come out he has a mistress and the '3 girls' and alimony were a real hassle. I'm sure the police will go up this avenue. Why all the violence to the women and he survives unblemished. One of the murderers will crack -then again- we were all wrong about the Ramseys.
Charles Almon at 11:03PM on Jul 26th 2007