“Come on, where’s your compassion? He’s just a mixed-up kid!”
TJ Lane, who pleaded guilty in the fatal shooting of three Ohio high school students, appeared in court for sentencing wearing a T-shirt with the word “killer” written on it in black marker,the same message that he had on the T-shirt he wore while shooting three studentsteens in the cafeteria at Chardon High School. Lane also charmed the judge before sentencing with a “vile and unprintable” courtroom description about what he did to himself while recalling his killing spree, raised a middle finger to the assembled and said, “Fuck all of you!”
The judge sentenced Lane to three life sentences without parole.
And should we extend this obviously troubled and confusedyoung man our sympathy, our pity, our compassion? Should we be on the watch for when he repents, shows remorse, indicates contrition, and seeks that “second chance” that all Americans, indeed all human beings, deserve, with our hearts and arms ready to receive him back into civilized society?
No.
Ethics Alarms 
It speaks for itself.
There’s a book (also made/being made into a movie) called “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” from the POV of the mother of a school shooter dealing with the aftermath and flashing back to his upbringing to figure out where things went wrong. Towards the end of the book, as he is being prepared to move from a Juvenile to an Adult facility, Kevin finally shows remorse for at least one of his victims, and fear at what awaits him for the rest of his life in Prison. The author seems to imply that the answer to your final paragraph of questions is “yes,” because he’s so scared and sorry. I say yep, that’s the point.
At least he made it easier by pleading guilty, and not showing fake remorse as so many criminals do (a 10 on the Apology Scale, for sure!)
The only good thing about the fact that this person wasn’t eligible to be sentenced to death is that we will never again have to hear his name. His involvement with civilization justly ends with the slam of a prison door, just like Mumia’s name faded from the mainstream press after Pennsylvania decided they wouldn’t continue pursuing the death penalty. Prisoners locked away for life just don’t attract the kind of support that those sentenced to death do – partly, I think, because those who campaign against the death penalty see the condemned as props in their greater cause, not genuinely innocent people.
Personally, I couldn’t have cared less if he had crawled on the floor of the courtroom and howled his contrition to the Moon. He deliberately murdered three teenage kids with ten shots. He just walked up and did it in front of virtually the entire school in the cafeteria. This is the act of a monster, not a human being. If a teacher had been armed, maybe some of those kids would be alive and young Mr. Lane would not be. That would have saved the state of Ohio the costs of a trial and of having to house and feed this creature for another 60 years or so.
Evil? Of course- but I think it’s too easy to describe him as an inhuman monster. I have no sympathy for him, but humanity is capable of incredible evil, no monsters required.
What made him who he is? We don’t have to forgive him or excuse him to understand him. Is he simply broken, or is there a path he went down that we can work to prevent others from travelling?
Jeff Jacoby explains it
This is why I support capital punishment. Someone likes this makes the creative mind dance with all the things that could befall him that he would richly deserve, but could never actually let happen in a just society. Death is just death.
I believe there must be some crime a person can commit that says without doubt that they have completely flunked the planet and they don’t even have the right to wake up and go to sleep every morning,scratch an itch, eat food, or whatever tiny pleasures you might still have while incarcerated. Not having a death penalty means there’s almost no way to punish someone (that wouldn’t be a violation of human rights, which we can’t) determined to continue to cause trouble when they already have life without parole.
Unfortunately, if this mass murderer had been 18 and death-penalty-eligible you would have any number of activists and celebrities begging for his life to be spared and any number of crackpots saying he was just a troubled kid who doesn’t deserve to be punished or just plain not guilty. The possibility that someone, even someone richly deserving, could be strapped to a gurney and given the spike is something a lot of people, for a lot of reasons, some well-thought-out, some just plain emotional, have this allergic reaction to. Unfortunately, the SCOTUS has decided that executing somepne under 18 when he offence was commited is cuel and unusual, so wwe’re stuck.
We can’t execute him because he’s under eighteen? Well, so were his victims. And there were three of them, so that leaves my mustard quite uncut.
As you know, I agree. Whether this idiot qualifies, I’m not sure.
We have oubliettes
If a judge ever falls for this sorry excuse for a human being’s pleas for mercy (should he ever make any), he or she should immediately be forced to step down. At least in my opinion.
I guess young Mr. Lane’s behavior in the court saddens me more than angers me. His crimes, yes, those anger me. Lane seems to possess a tragic combination of woeful education by others, plus more woeful self-education – or, rejection of education – about truly “social” behavior.
I don’t envy his future, but I pity his family’s.