I would challenge anyone who believes it does NOT to start paying better attention. I’d be glad to compile a list of True Crime cases for you to peruse; I expect reading the accounts of Ed Kemper, say, or Ted Bundy would quickly convince even the most diehard doubter. But there’s evil and then there’s evil. Perhaps Bundy was forever altered, forever perverted, by a head injury he suffered in childhood. Maybe Kemper was marred by an abusive relationship with his mother. Would this in any way diminish the responsibility these vile men must bear for their reprehensible actions? Maybe a little? Microscopically? (I think of the Miracle Max scene from THE PRINCESS BRIDE wherein he announces that Wesley is only “MOSTLY dead.” Maybe guys like Bundy are only MOSTLY evil?)
The study chronicled in this linked-to article suggests that a belief in ABSOLUTE evil is linked to a pro-capital punishment viewpoint. The more people can demonize a violent criminal, the more likely they are to support that offender getting the death penalty. But as my old college Psychology Professor so often stressed, correlation does NOT equal causation. A belief in absolute evil doesn’t make a person support the death penalty. But to what extent does it “help?”
