Let Him Rot!: Why The Jury Shouldn't Sentence Dylann Roof To Death

Yesterday, a judge ruled that Dylann Roof, a white supremacist who murdered nine African-Americans churchgoers in South Carolina, is competent enough to proceed to sentencing. Roof, who was convicted late last year, is facing the death penalty.

I don't think Roof should be put to death. Not because I subscribe to lofty ideals like forgiveness. Not because there is a possibility that Roof will find redemption. Not because I oppose the death penalty on principal. I think Roof should get life without parole simply because executing him would be too easy.

After all, anyone convicted of a capital offense is automatically eligible for at least one appeal, whether they want one or not. That means that Roof gets a lot of attention--from lawyers who are duty bound to defend him, from anti-death penalty advocates, from white nationalists who view him as a martyr, from the press looking to sell newspapers, from the clergy who seek to redeem him, from healthcare professionals who are required to keep him healthy before he receives his lethal injection, from the groupies who get a sick thrill from consorting with a man facing death. In the meantime, the victims of the slaying are treated like afterthoughts, rarely mentioned by name in news pieces about the crime.

Not only would this type of attention play into Roof's warped sense of self-importance, it could also emcourage other white supremacists to commit similar crimes.

That being said, spare Roof's life. Given his tender age (Roof is 22 ), life in prison is the worst thing that can happen to him. After all, an American male born in 1994 can expect to live into his early seventies and it is not unheard of for Americans to live into their eighties and nineties. That's a minimum of fifty years behind bars for Roof.

That's fifty years (18,250 days/438,000 hours/26,280,000 minutes) of nearly unremitting tedium. Barring prison transfers, Roof will never travel beyond the heavily guarded walls of the prison again. Roof can marry but he'll never have sex with a woman again, never father a child, never raise a family. He'll never pursue a career; any work Roof gets will be of the exploitative menial variety. Roof can pursue an education behind bars but he won't be able to apply it in any meaningful way. He'll spend most of his day in a cramped prison cell. Roof will have little autonomy. For the rest of his life, guards and wardens will decide when he eats, sleeps, bathes, socializes, watches television, visits the doctor, etc. And he'll be subjected to harsh punishment for even the most minor transgressions. Roof will be almost completely isolated from the outside world. While a few devoted family members will probably visit from time to time, any friends he had on the outside will eventually fall away.

And Roof will quickly fade away from public view in the event that the jury hands down a sentence of life without parole; because there is no doubt about Roof's guilt and because of the utter senselessness of his crime, criminal justice advocates will not spend much time thinking about Roof if his life is spared.

On top of that, Roof will have to tolerate these conditions surrounded by the very people he hates, people who look very much like the nine people he slaughtered a year and a half ago. Yes, Roof can join a white supremacist gafng for protection but he has already been assaulted behind bars. Roof will spend the rest of his life constantly looking over his shoulder.A life of enforced boredom and obscurity is the exact opposite of what Roof, an unemployed ninth-grade dropout was seeking when he entered the Beth Emmanuel Church on that late spring evening a year and a half ago.

A life of enforced boredom, obscurity, and danger were the very last things Roof was seeking when he perpetrated this crime. So I say, let him rot! He can spend the next fifty years thinking about why he so senselessly murdered the nine innocents who showed him Christian charity and the rest of the world can focus their attention on rightfully honoring the dead.