Twitter Used to Announce Criminal Execution

[Tom Goldman]

Twitter Used to Announce Criminal Execution

Is it moral to be on Twitter when you're about to send a man to his death?

Many people use Twitter to tell their friends that they just ate a sandwich. Others use it for humorous discourse that usually ends up with at least one "LOL!" Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff uses Twitter to announce that a criminal is about to be executed by firing squad. LOL...?

Here's the scene, if I'm understanding things correctly. On the day of convicted murderer Ronnie Lee Gardner's execution, Shurtleff first tweeted: "A solemn day. Barring a stay by Sup Ct, & with my final nod, Utah will use most extreme power & execute a killer. Mourn his victims. Justice."

Shortly after, he tweets: "I just gave the go ahead to Corrections Director to proceed with Gardner's execution. May God grant him the mercy he denied his victims."

I don't want to get into the morality of execution and whatnot, but I have no problem with someone that feels like he's brought justice to the world. However, it does seem a little strange to be hanging out at an execution and tweeting its progress through your Blackberry just like you would at a Kanye West concert. Gardner was sentenced for shooting and killing an attorney during an attempted courthouse escape, and also seriously wounding a bailiff. He was the first man to be executed by firing squad in Utah in the past 14 years.

After an apparent controversy over Shurtleff's use of Twitter in this manner, he tweeted: "I believe in an informed public. As elected official I use social media to communicate directly with people," and "WARNING! This page informs on real world of crime and punishment. 'If u can't stand the TWEET, get out of the TWITCHEN.'" If that second line didn't sadly make me giggle a little bit, I'm sure I'd be groaning.

While you might be proud enough to tweet that you just sent the final boss of Uncharted to his doom, Shurtleff is apparently just as happy about sending a real-life criminal to his. His actions could be somewhat morally ambiguous, but he was tweeting about his life like anyone else. He just might have seemed just a little too excited about it to be honest.

Source: CNET [http://twitter.com/MarkShurtleff]

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[sephiroth1991]

What's next everyone tweetting their bowel movements "I had a Piss, it went well"

OT:It seems a bit extreame to tweet the death of someone

 

[D_987]

To be honest I find such a thing highly unprofessional and slightly ludicrous; he's almost treating this highly serious, and, as stated, morally grey area like a game. The fact he'd go out of his way to post on Twitter, of all things, that he'd ordered another person to death makes you question his character - his tweet seems almost of a bragging nature.

 

[JaredXE]

All Twitter is is a means of conveying information. It doesn't have to be flimsy and cutesy like other social networking sites.

Also, good on him and his state. It's nice to see some places still have the balls to execute their criminals, not to mention announce it to the public.

 

[Cabisco]

Yeah, this is just wrong. I think tweeting that you have ended a life is just wrong. It shows a lack of respect and dignity people in his position should have.

 

[Jark212]

Firing Squad? He may be a soulless monster, but damn, he has style...

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

The revoloution won't be televised, it'll be Twittered. With Facebook groups.

 

[Mr.Kitetsu]

I see no problem in this
as long as he doesn't make fun of them then its okay
and tweet his name, that might cause some problems

 

[Irridium]

Um... yeah, this is kind of odd.

I really don't think you should announce deaths this way, it just seems like a dick move to "tweet" about sending someone to their deaths. Especially when that "tweet" could have just as easily been about how delicious your lunch was.

 

[AngryMongoose]

Firing Squad? He may be a soulless monster, but damn, he has style...

You think that, but he was strapped to a chair, with a bag on his head, rather than blindfolded, with all of the marksmen on the other side of the wall. Not as stylish as the classic blindfold and cigarette image.

 

[T-Bone24]

[/QUOTE]

I was seriously expecting that to say:

"Just gave the go-ahead for the Gardner execution, may God grant him mercy. LOL jk he'll rot"

Ugh, I'm disgusted with myself.

 

[SonOfIkaros]

I can't really see what's wrong with this. I do like that he's trying to keep the public informed, it shows integrity from an elected official, if you ask me.

It is a bit morbid to tweet about something like this, but Christ, is it really worse than it ending up on the Six o'clock news, treated by some stone-faced news reporter? There's not much dignity for the victim in either of the cases. At least this way the news get out quickly.

 

[Vaccine]

That's fucking disgusting.

This is why Facebook, Twitter and everything else like it is making me really not want to live through the next few decades.

 

[Lawyer105]

I agree - what's the big issue. How is Twitter any different from reading his comments in the newspaper? If some people CHOOSE to treat Twitter as the dumping ground for their inane drivel, why should that restrict the CHOICE of somebody else to use it as a serious communication medium! I'd rather read somebody's comments on his own Twitter account than via the newspapers - even most of the 'respectable' ones... at least we can be sure that it's correctly quoted and not had intentional sensationalism (other than what's inherent in the original comment) added on to sell copies!

 

[DigitalSushi]

So tweeting is bad but a PR spun press release is good?.

 

[LTK_70]

I bet he's just doing this for the same reason any politician is on Twitter. Free publicity. And apparently, there is no such thing as bad publicity.

 

[Therumancer]

Seems reasonable to me. I'm not a big fan of twitter, but it's just another form of disseminating information. Just because people use it trivially does not mean that is all it can ever be.

In this paticular case I have no issue, the guy was professional enough about the annoucement. Informing people about this kind of thing publically is a nessecity (people should know it's going on) and Twitter allows for an immediate annoucement to those who are interested, rather than having to wait for newspapers or TV to cover it.

Truthfully, on most levels I think this is a good thing. I am pro-capitol punishment, and think we're a lot too lax in using it when dealing with heinous criminals. HOWEVER, a real time annoucement does let those who might object (within the case) take action immediatly, rather than later on down the pipe when things might have already progressed too far... bureaucratically if not physically.

A more open goverment is a good thing.

Firing squad is also fine by me, I hope to never be excecuted, but I don't really believe in arguements about "humane methods". Electrocution, Lethal Injection, Gas Chamber... I don't believe any of them are truely painless.

Within a Firing Squad it should be noted that it takes more people to actually carry out the execution itself, while relatively easy to set up, I am vaguely more comfortable with the idea of the execution taking more people/requiring more support, than being something that can be carried out by a couple of dudes more or less off the cuff.

I'm wary about things like the "Chinese Party Van"

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006-06-14-death-van_x.htm

You'll find tons of stuff on this under the search words "Chinese, Mobile, Execution"....

At any rate, the bottom line is that the less people directly involved, all claims of people being able to witness stuff via camera (or through a window) aside, the less prone to abuse executions (which I think are nessicary) are. China has "EZ executions" and also seems to engage in callously disposing of people, with the official records having them killing 4x more people than the next runner up (apparently including third world warlords and the like) and that's just the official record.

Basically I'd rather them get half a dozen executioners, instead of just one, and carry out the deed at a specific location. I also think the public should be informed when the desician is made as quickly as possible, with some time to take action in between.

All claims to the contrary aside, I feel that the "quiet and humane" school of thought leads to abuses that end up with stuff like entire fleets of mobile death chambers that can dish out justice "on the spot" whenever someone is in the mood.

 

[Delusibeta]

There is a line.

If u can't stand the TWEET, get out of the TWITCHEN.

And with that particular tweet I just quoted, he crossed it. That joke was awful.