Clifford Boggess

When I was first introduced to Clifford Boggess I thought right away that he should have been executed. All I knew was that he murdered two old defenseless men. He said that he was in total mental control and knew exactly what he was doing as the crimes went on. The second murder was even premeditated since he planned out his target without even knowing anything about him except for that he had the money that Boggess was looking for. Boggess even said that in the first murder he was just "hurting to be brutal". As time went on though I started to feel less strongly about my first instinct. He was adopted when he was a baby and by age four he was abandoned by his adoptive mother. His birth mother was abusive and he came from a long family history of abuse. When thinking back on his childhood, Boggess talked about how he craved attention whenever he could get it. I think this is because he probably felt unwanted since he had been abandoned by two different mothers. Based off of the rough childhood that he had, I am not surprised that he ended up committing the crimes he did. After the whole film though, I do not agree with the execution of Clifford Boggess. However, that is just because I am not one of the victims of the murders like Frank Collier's brother or the granddaughter of Jim Hazelwood. If I were one of them I would have wanted him dead right away instead of nine years after the murders. I do believe that he should have gotten a life sentence in prison though, with no chance for parole. I think that his crimes were terrible but I believe that over his stay on death row Boggess changed as a person. I think he was able to see that he committing horrible crimes. I think that he should have lived with the guilt of what he did though. Even though he believed Jesus forgave him, I think knowing that the victims families are never going to be the same would have eaten at him for the rest of his life. I don't think that his life would have had societal value as a Christian since there are plenty of people who do crazy things and then think they are off the hook because of Jesus, but I think his artwork was good and could have brought something to some people.