In 2007, one of the most brutal cold-blooded murders took place in the Petit home in Cheshire, Conn. The murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters Michaela and Hayley shook the town and our state. Never before had there been such a spontaneous act of violence of this magnitude - and the state and the one surviving family member, Dr. William Petit, are still looking for a way to cope with such a loss.
It is no surprise that after the murders took place, author Brian McDonald decided to look deeper into the murders and the minds of the ones who committed the atrocious act, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjersky. His new book, which was released in early September, is called, "In the Middle of the Night: The Shocking True Story of a Family Killed in Cold Blood." In the book, McDonald uses quotes from Komisarjersky about what happened that day after he interviewed the convicted murderer three times.
Komisarjersky doesn't spare any feeling in the interviews used in the book. He describes following the Petit family van home from the grocery store, watching Hayes strangle Mrs. Hawke-Petit, the sound of pouring the gasoline, and even the glare in Hayes' eyes as he committed the murders. He even recounts them laughing as they left the house. These shocking details and insight into the brutal act are enough to intrigue and interest any reader who is interested in these sorts of books, but it has the Cheshire community up in arms.
Many members of the town are angry that the Cheshire Public Library has the book on its shelves. Many argue that it goes beyond our First Amendment rights to have such a book about murder on the shelves. Other town members argue that for the sake of Dr. Petit, the sole survivor of the attacks the book, should not be included in their public library's collection.
On the other hand, many feel that keeping this book from the shelves would be an act of censorship and that a public library is there to give community members the opportunity to read anything they want and to learn and expand on any book to form their opinions, not a select number of books to guide their opinions in one direction. The town members who are for keeping the book in the public library are right; by banning this book, the members of this town would be infringing on our fundamental rights and disregarding the First Amendment.
Ramona Harten, the director of Cheshire's Public Library, stated, "Libraries exist to provide information for residents and to let them make their own judgment on the content of the information." Harten's comments help us realize that this debate isn't just about how a town wants to cope with these murders, but about the role of censorship, even when faced with personal agendas. If the public library censors McDonald's book and that is OK, where will they stop? Yes, the murders of the Petit family are described vividly in the book, but no one is being forced to read the book. If they argue that the book is too over-bearing and doesn't fall within our First Amendment rights, then what would that mean for all the mystery and murder novels on our library shelves already? How about "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," a book that uses expletives repeatedly, or "Slaughterhouse Five," for its profanity, violence and sexuality. Where do we stop?
Many of the members feel that this personal tragedy is intense, but that doesn't mean that they should be blocking this information from the shelves of the library. In the Jefferson County Library in Colorado, where the Columbine shootings took place, there is a section of books recounting the shootings at Columbine High School that have not been censored or taken off the shelves.
It's easy to understand why residents don't want this book on the shelves of the library. We here at UConn understand, especially in light of the recent events, that we don't want to constantly be reminded about how the murder was committed and give any chance for the murderers to speak. That said, we have an obligation not to censor any books, especially from a public library, where readers are given the option to pick the information they read and judge the content themselves. Once we take one book away, it will be too easy to take more off the shelves. My advice to the citizens of Cheshire is: if you don't want to read the book, then don't. If your neighbor wants to read it, that is their right. It isn't democracy if we take that right away.
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