Posted by Kenny on April 20th, 2009 |
1 commentIn these days, when the country is in its worst economic state since the Great Depression that started in 1929, people are hurting. People are hurting financially, and emotionally; which causes people to do heinous things. People will lie, cheat, steal, to get back to the way they used to be – financially sound. Sometimes, in their desperation people will commit acts that are unfortunate and hurtful to others, such as: steal, or commit murder – other people that have access to government secrets will commit treason for money. When people are desperate they do desperate things, sometimes not right, but still done all the same. Then there are the people that have evil in their hearts and minds, and malice is all that is in their mind, and murder or manslaughter are the acts that both the desperate person and the malicious person could commit. Murder is the intentional or premeditated ceasing of one’s life, while manslaughter on the other hand is the unintentional taking of a person’s life without malicious intent (Princeton); and according to the United States of America’s penal code: murder is punishable by death; manslaughter is up to the judge/jury (deathpenaltyinfo.org).
Many people have problems with the death penalty, they don’t see it as a deterrent and they see it as just another attempt to spend more money by the government, however, heinous or not the death penalty is there to deter people from taking the life of a fellow human being, if it works or not that is simply dependent on the person that could commit the acts without remorse, or the person who could think back logically and realize that (s)he could get the death penalty for committing murder or treason. Capital punishment is a deterrent to rational people and it should be used within the burden of the law to do as one would have done unto them.
Capital punishment is one of the oldest institutions of the law. Even in the Christian Bible, there are people being put to death for breaking the law; one of those laws was actually being a follower of Jesus Christ. Today, however, in the modern United States of America, the death penalty is not used very often. In 2008, there were five fewer executions in the United States than there were in 2007, at thirty-seven executions this year (OJP). This number is even expected to be lower this year as well. Being that the death penalty is so highly controversial criminals that have been found guilty of committing an act of murder or treason have many, many appeals; which drives the cost of the actual process way up. In Indiana the cost of putting a person down is about thirty-eight percent higher than it would be to incarcerate them for the rest of their lives. While in Texas it is only three percent higher. The average national cost of the capital punishment for inmates ranges from $500,000 to $24.8 Million (deathpenaltyinfo.org). It does not need to be so expensive; however, it is the case of where every person involved needs to be paid – which causes that price tag to go up and up and up. If a person is found guilty with irrefutable evidence and everything was done properly in the United States trial system than there will be no doubt this person was guilty, allow time for one appeal to be founded – two years – then that person should be given to the hands of Lord. The cost of the death penalty would be significantly reduced at that point.
Why should society play God? The judges are given the authority to take a man’s life with the strike of his gavel, because of the authority given to the people of the world by God. “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (Genesis 9:6). The judge is just merely a man too, but once his office is taken he is ordained by the country to sentence this man to the maximum or minimum of the letter of the law. With science they can only prove ninety-eight percent of the time that a person is guilty; however, this percentage only gets better with technology. “In 1987, a study was published by the Stanford Law Review. They found some evidence that suggested that at least 350 people between 1900 and 1985 in America might have been innocent of the crime for which they were convicted, and could have been sentenced to death. 139 ‘were sentenced to death and as many as 23 were executed’” (religioustolerance.org). People dying for another’s crime, there is no acceptable explanation for this, so in order to rectify these situations the courts have to adapt to making certain that there is no doubt at all when sentencing these people to death.
The death penalty is harsh, and cruel, yes, but it is effective in getting the criminals and dirt-bags off the street. Even the name itself is enough to send a shiver down spines of many Americans, however, it is not just enough to deter. Capital punishment has been used in many ways to scare people, but it is no longer working. The people of the courts need to be more instrumental in making certain that the penalty of murder is DEATH. The way to show this is to make sure to teach to children in schools the harsh realities, parents need to be educated as well to make certain that they teach their children the consequences.
John McAdams of Marquette University quoted on a website that is for Capital Punishment, “If we execute murderers and there is in fact no deterrent effect, we have killed a bunch of murderers. If we fail to execute murderers, and doing so would in fact have deterred other murders, we have allowed the killing of a bunch of innocent victims. I would much rather risk the former. This, to me, is not a tough call.” Basically saying that those that have been mercilessly slain for nothing more than the murderers own sick gratification of whatever nature it may be, sexual or otherwise. This example perfectly portrays what type of people should be put to death, “Faith Hathaway was 17 when she was murdered by Robert Willie, whose story became the inspiration for the film Dead Man Walking. Hathaway had just graduated from high school and was leaving for the Army the next day. She was abducted after leaving a farewell party in Mandeville, La. Willie and accomplice Joseph Vaccaro had been on an 8-day murder, robbery and rape spree. Hathaway was raped by both assailants and stabbed 17 times. She was raped again after she died” (prodeathpenalty.com). These people were found guilty and put to death, and the aforementioned is the reason why it should be.
Amnesty International is a website dedicated to bleeding heart liberals and they of course disagree with the death penalty:
“The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights. It is the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state in the name of justice. It violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, whatever form it takes—electrocution, hanging, gassing, beheading, stoning, shooting or lethal injection.”
- Amnesty.org
However, those that oppose the death penalty have valid complaints, no one can say that they are not founded on some kind of emotional fact; however, let’s put the miles on their shoes whereas their loved one is brutally murdered, chopped up, put in a freezer to be saved for consumption later. Referring to of course, Jeffrey Dahmer, where he said the reason why he would do it is because he knew he wouldn’t get caught and if he did get caught then he wouldn’t get the death penalty (MSNBC). Dahmer was right though, he was not sentenced to death, he got nearly a thousand years in prison; however, justice was served in the end when another inmate killed him in 1994 (Time). If that doesn’t spike the feelings of those who oppose the death penalty, then possibly Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber might. This man killed hundreds of people including women and children who didn’t even have a chance at life yet, blew them to smithereens. Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death by lethal injection and as he died showed no remorse, but “actually looked proud” (finadeath.com).
Capital punishment is the integral way of ending the life of one who has killed others. The reason behind killing these people is: retribution, justice, saving future victims in case the inmate escaped from prison. So one should ask themselves when thinking about the death penalty this one question, and they should really think about it very hard before answering, really put themselves in the shoes: What would you do if your beautiful baby girl, let’s say twelve years old, was taken from playing outside with her friends, she is beaten, raped, beaten some more then the perpetrator takes out a knife to hide the evidence and kills this beautiful little girl… What would you do? If the answer is that you would go out and kill that person that you would get your own retribution for the murder of this little girl, and then you too should support the death penalty.
Works Cited
Bureau of Justice Statistics. 13 April 2009. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cp.htm
Religious Intolerance.13 April 2009. http://www.religioustolerance.org/executb.htm
Amnesty International. 20 April 2009. http://www.amnesty.org/en/death-penalty/myths-facts/facts
Death Penalty Info. 20 April 2009. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-news-and-developments-2007
“Costs of Death Penalty.” Death Penalty Info. 20 April 2009. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty
Pro Death Penalty. 20 April 2009. http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/
MSNBC, Google Video, “Jeffery Dahmer.” 19 April 2009 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8218236246650096071
TIME Magazine Online, “Top 25 Crimes of the Century.” 15 April 2009 http://www.time.com/time/2007/crimes/16.html
Findadeath.com, “Timothy McVeigh.” 20 April 2009. http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/m/mcveigh/timothy_mcveigh.htm
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