I'm doing a paper for government on the death penalty and I was just wondering: what is your opinion on capital punishment? I personally think it is hypocritical and wrong. I believe strongly in "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." I don't think anyone has the right to murder, whether it be a single person or a government institution.
Give me your opinions. I'd like another insight to put into my paper to give it contrast. Thank you!
Janaye Campbell
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.
OK, Janaye. I'll give my two cents worth. For most my life, I was in favor of the death penalty. My rationale was that if you deliberately took someone's life, then the price tag for that decision is the forfeiture of your own life. I would not consider that 'murder' by the government, but rather justice (blind).
ReplyDeleteRecently ( at least in my terms), however, I've changed my mind, but not for the reasons you give. You might want to check the statistics on this, but a few years ago when I researched it, there were some alarming data. For example, if you were a black man who was convicted of killing a white woman in the U.S., you were eight times more likely to be put to death than if you were a white man who was convicted of killing a black woman.
Additionally, you could commit a crime (e.g., first degree murder) in one state (e.g., Texas), and be given the death penalty, while you would 'only' receive a life sentence in another state.
More so, too often persons are convicted and sentenced on faulty testimony, misrepresented evidence, lousy investigative work, etc. If someone is put to death based on any of these errors, there is no way to correct it. Death is forever.
My take, for what it's worth.
R.Burd
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.
Thank you Mr. Burd. You made some great points that I'm definatly going to put into my paper. WHen I'm done with it I'll have to have you read it and tell me what you think.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to play the Devil's Advocate for you two.
ReplyDeletePeople who are convicted and then sentenced to death have the right to appeal the decision (I'm pretty sure they can do it several times). And if the crime they alledgedly commited puts them up for the death penalty, more than just circumstantial evidence must be used to convict them.
Honestly, though, I'm more in favor of life in prison than the death penalty, but only because I'm a bit of a sadist. Lethal injections are way too peaceful; dying in a prison riot or getting shanked with a sharpened spork is more to my taste. The suffering they experience, mental and physical, is worse than falling asleep peacefully.
I do agree with Mr. Burd on the state laws and stuff. A jury of your peers can still be filled with prejudiced, racist people who heard about your "crimes" in the news and already hate you for whatever reasons.
Death sentences should have the same criteria in every state and should be brought to one of the highest court of the land, if not the highest. It might not solve the problem completely, but it is better than putting someone's life in some random person on the street's hands.
The death of the victim is just as permanent, and we need to remember them in our decisions.
The family and friends of the victims suffer too, and they should get some closure. Some might forgive and forget, and others wouldn't. Unless you have experienced this yourself, I don't think you can say just how you would feel. If one of your family and friends were killed in cold blood by some heartless murderer, wouldn't you want some justice? Wouldn't you want them to suffer? Wouldn't you want them to pay for their crimes?
If I were going on that, I would go back to the law of medieval times. A person who was accused of a crime was given to the family of the victim and they could do whatever they wanted to them. Killing an innocent man was thought to be better than letting a guilty one live. That was justice then.
At least the justice of today has improved.
Lucy Randazzo
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.
If a member of my family was murdered, I would want justice. But "Taking a life after a life has been lost is justice, it's revenge." (Desmond Tutu Peace activist.)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lucy in that, a person will, and should want justice if someone in their family was murdered. But I don't believe that the death penalty is the right way of going about things. Think instead of your brother, sister, father, or mother being the victim, but as the murderer. What if someone close to you ruthlessly killed someone, and was sentenced with the death penalty? How would you feel? You would probably feel like the government was now murdering that person who is near and dear to you. Even though that person was way in the wrong of killing someone in the first place, would you really think that a member of your family's life is just as important as the person who was murdered? No. You would think that the whole situation was wrong, and there should be a re-trial and everything. By using the death penalty, one is just upsetting another family by destroying their hope, to satisfy the crushed dreams of another. This idea only causes more conflict and revenge. It doesn’t solve anything. Life for life. Pain for pain. No matter how many times the government thinks that by handing out a death penalty will bring peace, it will only bring more anger and revenge from the other parties point of view.
ReplyDeleteThese are just my thoughts. And knowing me, they probably don’t add up. But it’s what I think, and I think that the death penalty is just the governments way for justifying murder.
Shayna Innocenti
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.
I mistyped that quote above. It's supposed to be "Taking a life after a life has been taken is NOT justice, it's revenge."
ReplyDelete