Opinion
State must protect even worst felons
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Also by Jamie Shookman:
- State must protect even worst felons (November 29, 2004)
- Osama threat ineffective (November 5, 2004)
- Limiting abortions to rape not realistic (October 22, 2004)
- Citizens set bad example (October 5, 2004)
- Sport weekends underrated (September 20, 2004)
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Last week’s Thanksgiving Thursday served to represent a great event in our country’s history, one of giving, one of sacrifice and one of survival. Yet last week also laid witness to a tragedy, as six hunters were killed in northern Wisconsin by a fellow hunter on a senseless, gruesome rampage.
Accompanying this appalling event was yet another reminder that even here, amid the dairy farms and supposed laid-back Midwest atmosphere, Wisconsin’s history has a dark side.
Saturday marked the 10-year anniversary of an infamous Wisconsin man’s death. Jeffery Dahmer, the most notorious serial killer in our state’s history, was killed by a fellow inmate at the Columbia County Correctional Institute in Portage, Wis. Nov. 28, 1994.
The story of Jeffery Dahmer shows that a code exists even among criminals. The code isn’t black and white, but in certain cases, like that of Dahmer and last week’s massacre, a crime is so far beyond what even criminals see as acceptable that a convict becomes an immediate target in prison. Consequently, Dahmer’s time in jail was short-lived.
Soon after entering the Columbia County Correctional Institute, Dahmer started meeting with a chaplain, attending weekly Bible studies and showing a desire to be baptized. On May 10, 1994, Roy Ratcliff baptized Dahmer, instigating a wave of controversy both within and outside the prison. Many questioned the purpose of baptizing a serial killer, and the criticism further ostracized Dahmer from the rest of the prisoners.
Following the baptism, Dahmer was attacked by a fellow inmate at one of his Bible studies. It was apparent that Dahmer wasn’t safe among the rest of the prisoners, and he was placed in isolation to ensure his security. Yet on Nov. 28, 1994, Dahmer was killed by an inmate, and while the events surrounding his actual death are still uncertain, it is clear that Dahmer was rejected by the rest of the prison society.
Dahmer was an outsider among thieves, rapists, and murderers because his crimes went beyond breaking the law; his actions showed a complete disregard for human decency. Dahmer killed for no other reason than the act itself, horrifically maiming his victims in sixteen different murders. His actions were so far outside what is typical, even for convicted criminals, that he was a target as soon as he entered prison.
Now 10 years after his killings, Jeffery Dahmer is a household name and his perverse, sadistic life has reached legendary status.
Yet the killings of this year’s hunting season have left everyone still trying to grasp what exactly happened and what exactly this means for the sport of hunting.
Chai Vang was arrested last week, and is soon to be charged for the murders of six hunters and the shooting of two others. The incident supposedly started after a disagreement regarding a tree stand on private land in Sawyer County, after which Vang shot a group of unsuspecting hunters and continued shooting those coming to the aid of his original victims. It is undisputed that Vang is responsible for the deaths, and as Wisconsin does not carry the death penalty as a punishment, he will likely receive life in prison.
Upon entering prison, Vang will be as much of a target as Dahmer. In a state with deer hunting ingrained in its culture, Vang’s actions are as — if not more — appalling than Dahmer’s. Vang’s murders were committed randomly against a group composed largely of unarmed men, some of which were chased down before being shot.
Hunting season requires recognition of numerous regulations and a general, unwritten respect for fellow hunters to ensure everyone’s safety and success in the few short weekends allotted each year. Even those without hunters in the family know friends, neighbors, and various members of their community that partake in deer-hunting season. Deer hunting is a Wisconsin tradition that has never witnessed a massacre like it observed last week.
Despite Vang’s crimes, he is still a human deserving of protection under the law: He should be placed in isolation immediately once entering prison or he will likely suffer Dahmer’s fate, potentially in an even shorter period of time.
Some crimes are too horrible for even criminals to comprehend.
When the shock of last week wears off, what will be left is a sick man that committed an act so far outside the confines of the law and so detrimental to an activity inherent in Wisconsin’s culture that Vang will be an immediate target by the rest of his inmates. Vang will therefore be a criminal that even the criminals abhor.
Though he has shown complete disregard for human life, the state must walk a higher ground and provide him extra protection in what will inevitably be a volatile environment in prison.
Jamie Shookman (jlshookman@wisc.edu) is a junior majoring in English and political science.
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Vang's case was worse than a serial killer who stalked, killed, and ate his victims? Vang was accosted by a group of men who, among their other lawful attempts to get him to leave, harrassed him and called him racial slurs. Vang was "hot in the blood." That's worse than a cold-blooded serial killed who maimed and tortured his victims?
Vang deserves whatever the law can throw at him--life w/out parole. But Jamie equates this with Dahmer because the tradition of Wisconsin hunting has been sullied?
What a strange column.
Actually Jamie, you wrote a relatively decent column for once. It's absolutely true that once in prison, Vang will be a hunted man.
You know, you used to be a raging conservative on these pages. Now you're showing signs of humanity. What's up with that?
"...as Wisconsin does not carry the death penalty as a punishment, he will likely receive life in prison."
Too bad about that, he should be executed.
Vang deserves the death penalty. Not only did he kill 6 men, and wound two, but last year there was a shooting of a hunter in the back, twice, and a truck matching Vang's discription was seen leaving the scene, though the case was never solved. I wish we could send him to Texas and have him shot. Calling him racial slures gives this man NO right to shoot them in cold blood. I don't care what liberal B.S. is going to come from this case about racism in wisconsin, vang is a murderer and he deserves a much worse face than life in prison, i hope the inmates do get to him, and i hope they're not as lenient on him as lethal injection would be.
What this man did was horrible, and he did have NO right to take these people's lives.
But that does not mean any of us DO have the right to condemn him to death. He will get what he desrves in this life or the next.
If you want to build a society where life is sacred, you have to protect all life. That means even protecting the lives of those that destroy it.
Indeed, he should be protected in prison in order to ensure that he spends the most possible time in confined agony.
No liberal bs from this liberal. Vang deserves everything the system can give him.
But still, Jeffrey Dahmer? Come on.
I still like my remedy: Let him have that tree stand he wanted so bad. Tie him to it for the rest of the winter.
It is so sad to see that people have made their mind up about what happened in the woods that day before all the facts have been revealed and thoroughly analyzed. It seems to me that Vang had already been tried and convicted before his side of the story even came out last week. The sadder thing is that even after his story was released, people are still retelling the story as if he just started shooting completely innocent people without any reason what so ever. It may turn out that he was just some guy that went crazy in the woods, but until all the facts are in we should reserve passing judgement. Justice is not served by prejudice.
Dahmer and Vang? No matter what Vang deserves as a punishment (that's another sotry),bringing Dahmer into it makes the article lose all credibility. Any half educated person can see that the attempted comparison is laughable. The focus has been taken off the crime and punishment of Vang, and transferred to the ridicule of this author.