Editorial on the Penalty Phase of Jodi Arias

May 23, 2013 - PRLog -- There is a cacophony of voices sounding off on the news network today spouting judgment on Jodi Arias. In my view, it is a spout that needs to be turned off. Jodi Arias was found guilty by a jury of her peers and the additional phases have little to do with salacious tone of the trial and all to do with how we feel as a society about penalty.

Upon the jury’s determination of judgment, the evidence of trial has been weighted and our society is to accept the evidence and the judgment thereon. This court, in particular, continued to determine whether the actual crimes committed by Jodi Arias were an aggravated offense.  They determined yes, it was.  Now the only question to be determined is punishment. This is not a question of her actions, but of our decision of our notion of punishment for the crime.

I believe that what most of us our seeing on TV is our own struggle for the step we take outside the lines. It is clearly time to put them in perspective. No matter what we may wish to review or rehash from our past transgressions, they cannot compare with the ultimate crime committed by Jodi Arias.

Our thoughts, judgments and final perceptions should be predicated upon how we feel the ultimate transgressor should be treated having done the deed. Not whether, her past, her present, or her future determines whether she should be given forms of compassion by our system.