Albert Pierrepoint was a man revered in his field. From 1932 to the mid 1950's, Pierrepoint had reached the pinnacle of his profession, a man in demand by most every facility of His (and in later years, Her) Majesty's Prison Service. Albert Pierrepoint was Great Britain's last hangman.
With over 600 executions performed during his tenure, no other state sanctioned executioner ever surpassed his total. Pierrepoint was considered such the consummate professional, unaffected by personal feeling when it came to his work, that he was commissioned the grave task of executing his closest friend, a man sentenced to hang for the murder of his mistress.
One must ask what dark shadows dwell in the mind of such a man. But, for me, herein lies the question that must be asked. Where lies the differential? What's the contrast between the executioner, an individual "legally" taking over 600 lives and the slayings of a genocidal serial killer? Don't get me wrong, I'm a very firm believer in capital punishment and believe strongly that it should be mandated in every state when there is evidence beyond any reasonable doubt that such a punishment is warranted. In my eyes, deviants such as child molesters, cold blooded murderers should be executed, first offense, no exceptions, so don't misinterpret my writings as any kind of protest against the death penalty. I saw a sign in someones yard recently that said "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind". While I get the point of the statement, there's a powerful argument for taking that "eye" to protect our children, our loved ones and all that have fallen victim to those we tried without success to rehabilitate.
But I digress..
Executioners worked anonymously and in strict secrecy, their identities unknown to the public as was in Pierrepoints case..that is until around and shortly after the close of World War II, when the "honor" was bestowed upon him to execute convicted war criminals. Ceremoniously flown to now allied occupied Germany to perform the task, Pierrepoint dispatched 47 convicted Nazi war criminals in less than a week. For this act upon those who had posed a threat to England, the world and the atrocities they perpetrated, Albert became a hero to most. He was cheered for upon his return to England and was viewed with (to his discomfort) a level of celebrity, short lived relatively speaking since the nations view toward capital punishment changed its course and he soon became villainized, even labeled by some a murderer himself. As a point of interest, While Pierrepoint carried out each and every one of these war crime executions without even the slightest hesitation, he was insistent that despite the heinous crimes for which they had been dispatched, each of the deceased be provided a coffin and decent burial... a damn sight more than those criminals had bestowed upon their victims and this in fact became a point of contention, objectionable to some of the military personnel involved in the operation, yet this idealism and sense of decency must say something about the man behind the noose?
Pierrepoint eventually removed himself from the list of available executioners in 1955 under the guise of a contract dispute over an unpaid fee resulting from a condemned prisoner being granted a reprieve, but those close to him speculated it was far more likely that he disengaged from the profession because the memories of his acts began to weigh too heavily on his conscience. Pierrepoint was actually quoted after his retirement as saying that the only thing capital punishment served to gain was vengeance.
Still though, my question goes unanswered. How does a state sanctioned executioner responsible for 660 deaths differ in essence from a serial killer? Because he's given license to commit the act by the authorities? Could you do it? Could you throw the switch to the electric chair, push the plunger of a lethal injection, drop cyanide pellets into the acid of the gas chamber or throw the lever of the hangman's gallows?
None of us know what we're capable of, we all think we know, but in reality, none of us really know. I like to think I could do it if it was required of me, to meter out justice to those who have been tried, judged and sentenced by their peers, those who truly deserve it. But what demons would visit me behind the eyelids of restless sleep? What's my psychopathy...what would I see she I look in the mirror..executioner or serial killer? Oh in my minds eye, executioner of course, but because I feel justice has been carried out or to to get a pass and take the life of another without fear of consequence?
I know what my answer would be....but what's yours?
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