Crime, Punishment and Death

Every now and then I'll come across articles on philly.com - police blotter, really - that describe horrible crimes in West and North Philadelphia - crimes that are tragically no longer front page news but almost routine. I think part of what draws my interest is my connection to the city, having gone to college there and having my first real experience with urban decay, poverty and lawlessness. My reaction of anger, outrage and grief is predictable. I'm flabbergasted at the complete disregard for human life and callousness toward the law. I'm saddened of the human lives that are shattered as a result by such evil.

Here's an example of a few recent cases:

• On August 29th, a young couple in West Philadelphia was found dead, shot in the back of the head execution-style in an apparent home invasion. Jonathan Pitts, 21, and Nakeisha Finks, 20, were found with their hands and ankles duct-taped inside their home on Delancey Street near 55th. They had been shot in the back of their heads and were lying on the bed of the second-floor front bedroom.
• Lyudmila Bershteyn, a 57-year-old Northeast Philadelphia woman who was described by friends as dignified, honest and hardworking, was fatally shot on Tuesday, September 1st and dumped like a piece of trash in rural South Jersey. Meanwhile, a carload of Philadelphia residents were drinking booze and smoking marijuana in Bershteyn's stolen 2009 Nissan Murano as they sped through rural South Carolina Thursday morning, police said.
• 14-year-old Kareem Haynes was shot and killed on September 8th in what may have been a case of mistaken identity. Kareem was shot in broad daylight at a busy intersection of Cecil B. Moore Avenue, just around the corner from his home, by a gunman who rode up on a bike.
• Domingo Rodriguez, 53, owner of Perlata Grocery, was gunned down during a robbery shortly on September 21st. The gunman opened the door to the secure area, shot Rodriguez in the chest, then stole about $2,000 from his pocket.

It's hard to not be angry when you read these articles. And it makes all the sense in the world for that anger and desire for justice maybe, just maybe evolve into a thirst for vengeance. An eye for an eye, our minds may think.

On occassion, I'll read another article which will leave me somehat emotionally confused. Stories about people who are either victims or about to be victimized who fight back. One case recently involved a student from Johns Hopkins who killed a burglar with a samurai sword. Baltimore shares certain traits with Philadelphia (I'm not talking about their love for sports), and the juxtaposition of university students and the inner-city sometimes has been a volatile mix. The account of the incident is graphic and wince-inducing:

Some shocked neighbors said they heard bloodcurdling screams in an area just blocks from the university...

(The burglar) Rice's left hand was nearly severed — Guglielmi described it as "hanging on by a thread" — and he suffered a severe cut to the upper body. He died at the scene...

There was a pool of blood Tuesday morning in the brick courtyard between the back porch of the home and the garage. The courtyard was strewn with debris, including what looked like broken glass.

On one hand, I'm glad that a potential victim prevented himself from being another statistic. In light of the aforementioned crimes, there might be a little "payback" feedback that the victims are fighting back. I can empathize with a degree of satisfaction that a person who was callously intending to commit a crime against another human being was thwarted. There's a feeling of "karma" or what comes around goes around.

On the other hand, the extreme justice of citizen violence thwarting citizen violence feels somewhat unsettling, especially when that judgement is extreme and final (death). In this case, the fact that the burglar, Donald D. Rice, 49, was a habitual offender who had just been released from jail, doesn't cause me to pump my fist (a'la "yeah, one less scumbag in this world!") as some might.

I can't help but humanize Donald Rice. At least for that brief movement as he was confronted by a young man and saw a three foot blade of steel slashing through the air towards him, I'm sure he was terrified. He probably wished he had stayed home and gone to bed early. For that split second as the blade sliced into his wrist and then his body, perhaps he thought, "I'm sorry. I wish I never made this decision." As the his slowly died as blood poured from his body, perhaps he thought about all the mistakes he made that he wish he could take back.

Yes, yes, I know what cynics would say. There wasn't much remorse for his crime - just remorse that he got caught, and the severe corresponding punishment. But can any of us truly claim to not be the same way in matters of the "little" sins that we commit against others and our God? Anyone who claims that remorse isn't tainted by our own harmed self-interests is lying.

This is another reminder of why the good news of Jesus Christ is powerful. It reminds us who are Christians that as sinners caught in sin just like the burglar caught in the garage, as the sword blade sped through the air, our silent pleas for mercy were actually answered. The blade stopped, and was redirected to Jesus who died in our place.

Imagine the feeling of gratitude and freedom - the life-changing experience that would be for the thief who experienced such mercy from justly deserved extreme justice. I need to remember not to lose touch with this, because this is my reality - and the reality for anyone who considers themselves saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.