Ricky Ray Rector in "Death Note"
Frank J. Lhota
issue of the death penalty. Light Yagami's belief than a better world by
executing the worst criminals is a central tenant among death penalty
advocates. Some death penalty opponents argue that the death penalty
would give the state excessive power, and that this power would
inevitably leads to abuse and corruption. Light's rapid descent into
psychotic narcissism is the personification of this point of view.
Part of the "Death Note" narrative reminded me of a particularly
controversial U.S. death penalty case: the 1992 execution of Ricky Ray
Rector. Rector was undoubtedly guilty of some truly heinous crimes. On
March 21 1981, Rector got into an argument over a $3 cover charge,
pulled out a gun and fired several shots. One man was killed and two
others were seriously wounded. He turned himself in, but ended up
shooting the arresting officer twice in the back, killing the officer.
Rector then pointed his gun at his temple and shot himself. This
apparent failed suicide attempt left Ricky severely mentally impaired.
That shot to the temple also performed an ersatz lobotomy that
profoundly affected his personality. He was no longer the angry
sociopath who would resort to extreme violence in order to get way.
Prison guards described the demeanor of Rector after the suicide attempt
as innocent and childlike. But it was the innocent and childlike Rector
that was given a lethal injection in 1992 for murdering a police officer
on duty.
The execution of Ricky Ray Rector was controversial for a number of
reasons. There were charges that the sentence was racially motivated
(Ricky was African American). The ethics of executing a mentally
disabled defendant was also an issue. There was also evidence that the
lethal injection given to Rector was botched. But mostly, there is a
feeling that execution was wrong because of the change in Rector as a
result of the suicide attempt. One cannot escape the feeling that the
Rector that should have been punished died in the suicide attempt, and
the man-child that occupied Rector's body after the attempt was
sacrificed to atone for crimes he most likely could neither recall nor
even comprehend.
Rector's story show why even a Death Penalty proponent would have
problems with Light's approach to executions. It seems that the only
justification Light needs to make a death note entry is a television
report of a serious crime: no additional details about the case are
examined, much less taken into consideration. Is there any doubt that if
Light lived in Arkansas in the early nineties, he would have entered the
name of the childlike Rector into his book?
Oddly enough, Light and Misa came very close to meeting Ricky's fate.
Consider the time period where neither of them had memories of their
death notes. During this time, Light was fully supportive of his fellow
investigators, and truly believed in bringing Kira to justice. Would it
have been right to execute Light during this time period, when he did
not know of his life as Kira and actively opposed Kira's killings?
Definitely not, but that would have been the likely outcome if L had
cracked the case at that time.
So Light can be seen twice in the Rector execution. Light definitely
embodies the spirit of Rector's executioners. But he came very close to
meeting the fate of Rector himself. Thus, we see what the Shinigami have
known all along: that executioners risk sharing the fate of their victims.
--
"All things extant in this world,
Gods of Heaven, gods of Earth,
Let everything be as it should be;
Thus shall it be!"
- Magical chant from "Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi"
"Drizzle, Drazzle, Drozzle, Drome,
Time for this one to come home!"
- Mr. Wizard from "Tooter Turtle"
Doug Jacobs
> Rector's story show why even a Death Penalty proponent would have
> problems with Light's approach to executions. It seems that the only
> justification Light needs to make a death note entry is a television
> report of a serious crime: no additional details about the case are
> examined, much less taken into consideration. Is there any doubt that if
> Light lived in Arkansas in the early nineties, he would have entered the
> name of the childlike Rector into his book?
This reminds me more of an episode from the TV sci-fi series, Babylon5. In
the episode, you learn that the death penalty has been done away with, and
instead Earth now uses a procedure that wipes the personality and memories
from the brain. A new personality is then implanted - one that wants to
serve society. The ex-convict is then released and given a menial labor
job - which he happily does - until he dies of natural causes. This
"death of personality" sounds exactly like what happened to Rector. As
you point out, the REAL Rector - the one who committed those crimes - was
killed by the botched suicide attempt.
The crux of the problem here is what is a person? Is it just the
personality rattling around in the brain, or is it the sum of body and
personality? If the latter, then one would argue that even though Rector
had a new personality, his body was still guilty of the crimes it was used
to committ.
Of course, I have to sort of wonder why would the police work to revive
someone from a suicide attempt, only to put him on trial for a crime that
would result in the death penalty? If anything, Rector's suicide was a
final stab at the community he'd hurt since he denied society the closure
of a trial (even if it would mean that society would then kill him
itself.)
> Oddly enough, Light and Misa came very close to meeting Ricky's fate.
> Consider the time period where neither of them had memories of their
> death notes. During this time, Light was fully supportive of his fellow
> investigators, and truly believed in bringing Kira to justice. Would it
> have been right to execute Light during this time period, when he did
> not know of his life as Kira and actively opposed Kira's killings?
> Definitely not, but that would have been the likely outcome if L had
> cracked the case at that time.
Light and Misa aren't quite the same, however.
They simply lost their memories of the deathnote - but were otherwise the
same people. To make a comparison to Rector, it'd be as if he'd forgotten
about shooting those people and cops. However, "he" was still the same
person.
Had L found ample evidence against Light and Misa, they would have still
been convicted of the crimes even though they wouldn't have any memory of
them. We even see (well...hear anyways) Light debating with himself about
the fact that he doesn't just agree with Kira, but that he might even come
to the same conclusions as Kira given the proper set of circumstances.
The way I look at it, if Light hadn't been in such a dour mood when he
found the deathnote, he might not have gone down the path to become Kira -
although I suspect that the temptation would ALWAYS be there.
--
It's not broken. It's...advanced.
Bill Martin
> In rec.arts.anime.misc Frank J. Lhota <FrankLh...@rcn.com> wrote:
>> Rector's story show why even a Death Penalty proponent would have
>> problems with Light's approach to executions. It seems that the only
>> justification Light needs to make a death note entry is a television
>> report of a serious crime: no additional details about the case are
>> examined, much less taken into consideration. Is there any doubt that if
>> Light lived in Arkansas in the early nineties, he would have entered the
>> name of the childlike Rector into his book?
>
> This reminds me more of an episode from the TV sci-fi series, Babylon5. In
> the episode, you learn that the death penalty has been done away with, and
> instead Earth now uses a procedure that wipes the personality and memories
> from the brain. A new personality is then implanted - one that wants to
> serve society. The ex-convict is then released and given a menial labor
> job - which he happily does - until he dies of natural causes.
You call being beaten and crucified "natural causes"?
David Johnston
<FrankLh...@rcn.com> wrote:
>In many ways, "Death Note" is a dramatization of the highly contentious
>issue of the death penalty. Light Yagami's belief than a better world by
>executing the worst criminals is a central tenant among death penalty
>advocates.
He isn't restricting himself to the worst criminals or for that matter
to criminals at all.
Farix
> In many ways, "Death Note" is a dramatization of the highly contentious
> issue of the death penalty. Light Yagami's belief than a better world by
> executing the worst criminals is a central tenant among death penalty
> advocates. Some death penalty opponents argue that the death penalty
> would give the state excessive power, and that this power would
> inevitably leads to abuse and corruption. Light's rapid descent into
> psychotic narcissism is the personification of this point of view.
The difference is that Light has set himself up to be judge, jury, and
executioner. He also "executes" people for petty crimes and those who
gets in his way, regardless of their innocence. In Lights mind, the
moment they oppose him, that person becomes "guilty".
Farix
Doug Jacobs
>> This reminds me more of an episode from the TV sci-fi series, Babylon5. In
>> the episode, you learn that the death penalty has been done away with, and
>> instead Earth now uses a procedure that wipes the personality and memories
>> from the brain. A new personality is then implanted - one that wants to
>> serve society. The ex-convict is then released and given a menial labor
>> job - which he happily does - until he dies of natural causes.
>
> You call being beaten and crucified "natural causes"?
That wasn't supposed to happen. The guy who was killed had been a serial
murderer who was caught and had his personality wiped. However, some
family members of his victims didn't agree with that sentence, and set out
to find him, use a telepath to undo his mind-wipe so he'd remember, and
then kill him out of vengenance.
As you recall, the man who was mainly responsible for killing the former
criminal was himself sentenced to death of personality, and ended up back
on Babylon5 serving in the very same job his victim had. As the head monk
stated "Forgiveness can be a very difficult thing."
I'm not sure if this story was partially inspired by Rector or if it was
more of an exploration of what justice could be like in the future.
Both situations bring up the same question though. Is killing the
personality the same as killing the body that contained it?
Frank J. Lhota
> In rec.arts.anime.misc Frank J. Lhota <FrankLh...@rcn.com> wrote:
>> Rector's story show why even a Death Penalty proponent would have
>> problems with Light's approach to executions. It seems that the only
>> justification Light needs to make a death note entry is a television
>> report of a serious crime: no additional details about the case are
>> examined, much less taken into consideration. Is there any doubt that if
>> Light lived in Arkansas in the early nineties, he would have entered the
>> name of the childlike Rector into his book?
>
> This reminds me more of an episode from the TV sci-fi series, Babylon5. In
> the episode, you learn that the death penalty has been done away with, and
> instead Earth now uses a procedure that wipes the personality and memories
> from the brain. A new personality is then implanted - one that wants to
> serve society. The ex-convict is then released and given a menial labor
> job - which he happily does - until he dies of natural causes. This
> "death of personality" sounds exactly like what happened to Rector. As
> you point out, the REAL Rector - the one who committed those crimes - was
> killed by the botched suicide attempt.
>
> The crux of the problem here is what is a person? Is it just the
> personality rattling around in the brain, or is it the sum of body and
> personality? If the latter, then one would argue that even though Rector
> had a new personality, his body was still guilty of the crimes it was used
> to committ.
That's an interesting point of view. But punishing someone for crimes
they cannot recall seems sort of pointless
> Of course, I have to sort of wonder why would the police work to revive
> someone from a suicide attempt, only to put him on trial for a crime that
> would result in the death penalty? If anything, Rector's suicide was a
> final stab at the community he'd hurt since he denied society the closure
> of a trial (even if it would mean that society would then kill him
> itself.)
I understand why the police came to Rector's aid, and I commend them for
doing so. To not help him when he was fatally wounded would effectively
give him a death sentence without the benefit of a trial. The police
have devoted their lives to enforcing the law, and so they followed the
law in this case. The law required that they revive the man so that he
could stand for a fair trial.
Granted, it must have been difficult for the officers to a man such as
rector. They had to revive a the man who has so little respect for the
law or for life that he would kill one of their own. You have to admire
the strength of their convictions, and their commitment for carrying out
their duties in this matter.
And I couldn't agree more with your assessment of Rector's suicide
attempt. It was both cowardly and cruel.
>> Oddly enough, Light and Misa came very close to meeting Ricky's fate.
>> Consider the time period where neither of them had memories of their
>> death notes. During this time, Light was fully supportive of his fellow
>> investigators, and truly believed in bringing Kira to justice. Would it
>> have been right to execute Light during this time period, when he did
>> not know of his life as Kira and actively opposed Kira's killings?
>> Definitely not, but that would have been the likely outcome if L had
>> cracked the case at that time.
>
> Light and Misa aren't quite the same, however.
>
> They simply lost their memories of the deathnote - but were otherwise the
> same people. To make a comparison to Rector, it'd be as if he'd forgotten
> about shooting those people and cops. However, "he" was still the same
> person.
>
> Had L found ample evidence against Light and Misa, they would have still
> been convicted of the crimes even though they wouldn't have any memory of
> them. We even see (well...hear anyways) Light debating with himself about
> the fact that he doesn't just agree with Kira, but that he might even come
> to the same conclusions as Kira given the proper set of circumstances.
>
> The way I look at it, if Light hadn't been in such a dour mood when he
> found the deathnote, he might not have gone down the path to become Kira -
> although I suspect that the temptation would ALWAYS be there.
>
>
True, in fact the Light of this time period appears to strongly suspect
the truth. I started off speculating what would have happened if L
cracked the case when Light did not have his memories of the death note,
but there is an even more frightening alternate. Imagine if the Light of
this time period had cracked the case!
Frank J. Lhota
But that's just the point. At the start, Light said he'd use the death
note to rid the world of hardened criminals. But how long was it that
his mission expand from executing criminals to executing anyone who
stood in the way of his ambitions? Power corrupts, absolute power
corrupts absolutely, and no power is greater than the power over life
and death.
David Johnston
<FrankLh...@rcn.com> wrote:
>David Johnston wrote:
>> On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 07:50:52 -0400, "Frank J. Lhota"
>> <FrankLh...@rcn.com> wrote:
>>
>>> In many ways, "Death Note" is a dramatization of the highly contentious
>>> issue of the death penalty. Light Yagami's belief than a better world by
>>> executing the worst criminals is a central tenant among death penalty
>>> advocates.
>>
>> He isn't restricting himself to the worst criminals or for that matter
>> to criminals at all.
>
>But that's just the point. At the start, Light said he'd use the death
>note to rid the world of hardened criminals. But how long was it that
>his mission expand from executing criminals to executing anyone who
>stood in the way of his ambitions? Power corrupts, absolute power
>corrupts absolutely, and no power is greater than the power over life
>and death.
Yeah. False analogy. There are countless people involved in modern
day applications of the death penalty in first world nations, none of
whom individually have all that much power, and none of whom are
unanswerable for their actions, no matter how extreme.
Giovanni Wassen
news:f5ydnXkycswukYzVnZ2dnUVZ_qmlnZ2d@rawbandwidth:
> Both situations bring up the same question though. Is killing the
> personality the same as killing the body that contained it?
I think it's equally worse, but on top of that a big lie and a slap in the
face of the victim's family, as demonstrated in B5. They have to live on
anf face the fact that somewhere a guy is walking around with the eyes that
witnessed the murder in first person. I can't see how that brings any
'closure'.
--
Gio
http://blog.watkijkikoptv.info
http://myanimelist.net/profile/extatix
BA .444 OBP .636 5 RBI 4 SB
Frank J. Lhota
Well, it is an accurate explanation of what went wrong with Light's
approach to executions, but I agree that the legal framework in the U.S.
and Japan does have the checks and balances to deal with abuse. Light
would have been far better off if he had advocated changing Japanese
law, instead of becoming a law onto himself.
Doug Jacobs
> Well, it is an accurate explanation of what went wrong with Light's
> approach to executions, but I agree that the legal framework in the U.S.
> and Japan does have the checks and balances to deal with abuse. Light
> would have been far better off if he had advocated changing Japanese
> law, instead of becoming a law onto himself.
That'd never work though. Even when L didn't have the notebook, I thought
he was a rather pretentious prick who felt he was better than everyone
around him. If anything, the notebook just confirms his suspicion that he
was intended for greatness, even though Ryuk tells him it was just dumb
chance.
Bill Martin
> In rec.arts.anime.misc Bill Martin <bill_r...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>> This reminds me more of an episode from the TV sci-fi series, Babylon5. In
>>> the episode, you learn that the death penalty has been done away with, and
>>> instead Earth now uses a procedure that wipes the personality and memories
>>> from the brain. A new personality is then implanted - one that wants to
>>> serve society. The ex-convict is then released and given a menial labor
>>> job - which he happily does - until he dies of natural causes.
>>
>> You call being beaten and crucified "natural causes"?
>
> That wasn't supposed to happen. The guy who was killed had been a serial
> murderer who was caught and had his personality wiped. However, some
> family members of his victims didn't agree with that sentence, and set out
> to find him, use a telepath to undo his mind-wipe so he'd remember, and
> then kill him out of vengenance.
>
> As you recall, the man who was mainly responsible for killing the former
> criminal was himself sentenced to death of personality, and ended up back
> on Babylon5 serving in the very same job his victim had. As the head monk
> stated "Forgiveness can be a very difficult thing."
Actually, he was going to be leaving B5 shortly thereafter. It also
makes me wonder, are most of the low-ranking monks in that galactic
order all mind-wiped criminals? And I'm sorry for jumping at you
earlier, I misread what was typed.
> I'm not sure if this story was partially inspired by Rector or if it was
> more of an exploration of what justice could be like in the future.
>
> Both situations bring up the same question though. Is killing the
> personality the same as killing the body that contained it?
Nope. Personality & memories in humans is not like data on a hard
drive, floppy disc, etc... You can wipe out the directory of where
stuff is stored, but the stuff's still there, and amnesiacs that have
recovered their memories. Even the B5 episode discussed has memories
thought wiped being remembered (or re-linked in memory), so unless the
area of the brain where the memories of something are stored is killed
or removed, the memories are there. Also, if you think about it, Ricky
Ray Rector didn't get a new soul after his failed suicide attempt, so
even if he couldn't easily rememeber what he'd done, his soul wasn't
innocent. Therein, lies the debate. Is a soul responsible for it's
actions if it can't remember them? The truth cannot be found on this
side of life, however, since we did not create our own bodies, nor our
souls.
Frank J. Lhota
> That'd never work though. Even when L didn't have the notebook, I thought
> he was a rather pretentious prick who felt he was better than everyone
> around him. If anything, the notebook just confirms his suspicion that he
> was intended for greatness, even though Ryuk tells him it was just dumb
> chance.
L? I think you meant Light. At least, I /think/ you meant Light, but
many of your remarks could apply to L as well.
Doug Jacobs
>> That'd never work though. Even when L didn't have the notebook, I thought
>> he was a rather pretentious prick who felt he was better than everyone
>> around him. If anything, the notebook just confirms his suspicion that he
>> was intended for greatness, even though Ryuk tells him it was just dumb
>> chance.
>
> L? I think you meant Light. At least, I /think/ you meant Light, but
> many of your remarks could apply to L as well.
Whoops, yeah, I meant Light. Too many L's in this show.
But yeah, L was pretty pretentious too.
I have to wonder though, was his comment that Light was the first person
he could consider a friend sincere, or was it just another test of L's to
see if Light really was Kira?