"Do you have any remorse for the things you have done?" - D.J. of Chicago

Yes, I have remorse, but not regret. [See: "No Regret".]

"Have you exhausted your appeals?" - D.J. of Chicago

No, not even close. The only case I have currently subject to appeal is the three Federal death sentences I received in 2008. I actually refused to file an appeal in that case. But, my attorneys (standby counsel; I was officially supposed to be representing myself at the time) filed an appeal notice on my behalf and without my express consent. I even wrote a letter to the judge telling him I had no intention or desire to appeal. So, he tried to block it, but my attorneys claimed he had no jurisdiction since the notice was filed in the appellate court, not his.

So, for the last several years both sides have been arguing in the appellate court over whether or not the appeal should be allowed or not. The actual appeal technically hasn't even begun yet, if it ever does.

In 2010 I formally notified the appellate court that I no longer objected to my attorneys efforts to appeal on my behalf. I still don't think that there should be an appeal, but neither do I think it should be my decision. So, I defer to counsel.

[Please check The Fifth Nail Exposed: Chronicles for the latest on my appeal status.]

Submit A Question

You may submit questions by simply leaving a comment with your question in it. Questions will be selected according to their sincerity and relevance. If you feel that your question is important and deserves special attention, then please write to me directly at the following address:

Joseph Duncan

12561-023 SHU-ZA

P.O. Box 13900

Seattle, WA 98198-1090

U.S.A.

(Note: Questions mailed to me directly will generally be answered more quickly than those left as blog comments, and they are much more likely to be selected. Anonymity is honored upon request.)

"What dealings do you remember having with the Panda Conspiracy blogger?" - Simon, UK

For some reason people keep asking me about this. Why? I received an e-mail from this blogger while I was still living in Fargo, ND. He (?) just let me know that he read and liked my blog (the original Fifth Nail). I thanked him in reply, then looked at his blog. But, I didn't really understand it. (It was something about a boy named Sasha, I think). I also posted something in my own blog about this, but if I remember correctly it was short and sweet (and probably cryptic as well). That's all I remember.

"Do you think you deserve to die?" - anonymous

I don't think anyone deserves to die. Nor do I think anyone deserves to live. The idea that justice is some sort of system of just deserts is no more than a destructive invention of vain human fancy to me. Such justice has no correlation, or place, in the natural (i.e. real) universe. And because I really believe this, the thought of anyone deserving to live or die, or anything else for that matter, seems insane to me. That being said, and ignoring all the philosophical contradictions that arise, if it were possible to somehow deserve death, then I would have passed the qualification point a long time ago (perhaps around the age of nine or ten). And so would have everyone else on this planet, with extremely few exceptions.

"What do you think society should do with people who rape children?" - anonymous

In cases of actual rape, where the child (or any person for that matter) is maliciously assaulted and physically injured, the person committing the assault should be quickly killed for the same reason we would hunt down and kill any animal that attacks a human. Not for justice, not for punishment and certainly not because they deserve to die. But, only because they are a clear threat and danger to other people.

"Do you believe in true justice?" - anonymous

Yes, though I think it is impossible to say exactly what true justice is, much less ever invoke it. To me, it is something that must exist naturally in the universe, independent of human intention or even awareness. Much more akin to karma than anything imagined in the U.S. I don't think true justice has anything at all to do with some fantasy of heaven or hell where we end up according to an arbitrary or divine (which are the same thing) measure of our individual worthiness. I do think that justice and truth go hand-in-hand however. To know the truth is to know and experience justice. I think that true justice is the natural process of coming to know the truth (which probably explains why introspection as the only real means of discerning the truth is so important to me).

"How many interviews have you agreed and why?" - Chicago

I have never agreed to any mainstream media interviews, though I have been asked (by numerous news agencies, book authors, documentary producers and talk shows). They all promise to tell my side of the story, but I doubt that. First of all, I don't have a "side", I have only my experience (I try very hard to be as unbiased as possible about my own experiences). And secondly, the popular media has a very determined focus on a very narrow objective that has little to nothing to do with communicating a truth that nobody wants to hear. The purpose of this blog to document that truth as honestly as I can without projecting my own understanding (I feel strongly that people should try to find their own understanding). I leave the interpretation up to the reader, instead of trying to provide a ready made and easy to swallow interpretation for them, as defines the "popular" media.

"Why did you return to Cour d'Alene Idaho with the little girl you kidnapped?" - F.F. of Fargo, ND

Perhaps the simplest way to explain why I brought Shasta home, and turned myself in to the police even though they had no idea who I was, is to say that I had a change of heart... a terrifyingly powerful change of heart. And it had a lot to do with the natural courage I witnessed in both Shasta and her brother Dylan, but especially in Shasta. She opened her heart to me despite my best efforts to make her fear and hate me. She taught me the true meaning and the power of pure love and forgiveness. It was this lesson that compelled me, and still compels me, to act compassionately toward her and all other human beings - even those I once hated and feared to the point of insane rage, and even those who still fear and hate me today. Shasta restored my sanity with true unconditional love. I like to tell people that I didn't bring her home; she brought me!

"In tragic circumstances too, the psychic can emerge, when all at once the whole being gathers together in a great poignant intensity, and something is rent: then we feel a kind of presence behind which makes us do things we would normally be quite incapable of doing.” - Satprem, "Sri Aurobindo, or the Adventure of Consciousness"

Submit A Question

Mail your questions to me at the following address:

Joseph Duncan

U.S. Penitentiary, # 12561-023

P.O. Box 33

Terre Haute, Indiana 47808

U.S.A.