NJ needs a death penalty when victims are children (Opinion)

Go ahead, call me a Neanderthal. Call me unwoke. A guy who just doesn't "get it."

I believe in the death penalty. I don't believe an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth per se. I don't believe that the robber should have his hand removed. But I do believe a life for a life.

Murder is the ultimate crime. A line in the movie “Unforgiven” had Clint Eastwood say, “It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take all he’s got, and all he’s ever gonna have.”

Now, what about when it's a child?

A horrific New Jersey crime against an almost 2-year-old boy, committed by his own mother, is landing the woman in prison with no chance of parole.

Nakira Griner, 28, beat the boy so savagely his skull was fractured into 74 pieces. Once she killed her own son she placed his body in the oven to burn. His charred remains were found in her backyard.

Nakira Griner is accused of killing her young son, Daniel Griner Jr.(Facebook/Bridgeton police)

You can read the grisly details here.

What really matters is the lack of justice even a life sentence brings. At 28, this monster could be the burden of us taxpayers for half a century to come. She'll get to live out her life albeit without freedom. How do we justify that after taking the life of her own toddler? How do we justify spending over $3 million dollars keeping this woman alive, fed and cared for?

We should bring back a death penalty in New Jersey and we should damn well use it. Those who argue it costs more to execute a prisoner are the very ones responsible for that fact, by advocating for endless legal appeals. The process should be swift with strictly limited appeals.

At the very least let's have a death penalty when the victim is a child. Further, I suggest we bring a death penalty against not only those who murder children but also those who sexually assault them.

Child sexual assault is tantamount to murder in that it changes the victim so drastically the life they would have had and the person they would have been are no more. Surely the same New Jersey public which supported abolishing the death penalty in 2007 would feel differently if execution were reserved only for child murderers and rapists.

Tuck in your own child tonight and tell me I'm wrong.

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