Sunday, September 25, 2011
The Death Penalty
As I recall, not but a few days ago, my government class discussed the death penalty. I personally am of the opinion that the death penalty is backwards thinking. It's barbaric in my mind, but it's because I'm really into preserving all life. But that is beside the point. There seems to be quite a few cases recently where the death penalty has been controversial. We read articles in class about people who got temporarily let off because it was not certain whether their trials were fair or not. One was due to possible racial prejudice, and another was due to problems with the drugs used for the death penalty. If I had my way, we would simply get rid of the death penalty, and allow people simple life imprisonment. I realize of course that this isn't exactly economically viable, but it is more humane in my mind. I don't know it's just an inherently imperfect system in my mind. But at any rate, we definitely must make sure that any punishment we put forth, whether death penalty or not must be in accordance with the constitution, because if we make exceptions, then the standard is not set for everyone. If we amend the constitution to abolish the death penalty, then we can all abide by it and no one will have to die because of it. That would be nice because it would preserve life, but it would also silence all these challenging cases of what is permissible by the constitution.
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I know you’re not in my group, yet I was still curious what your stance would be on the death penalty issue. The ideas are good and well thought out. However, I have some questions: Is it more “humane” to preserve someone’s life, yet have them live it out trapped in misery? Or is it better to give them death, and release them from suffering? Would not jail be considered barbaric? I can’t quite agree that life imprisonment is “simple”. I like the Constitution idea though! We definitely need to follow it!
ReplyDeleteI agree, although an economic burden, when we kill someone out of revenge, we are just as guilty as the murderer. Besides, I feel that life imprisonment is a far more just because, as far as we know, it is a far more miserable and long existence than a quick death. As a country, we should make a decision, and make an amendment to the Constitution, because if all these special circumstances, and exceptions are made, it is not a truly fair system, and therefore is susceptible to corruption, which may spread to other areas of government.
ReplyDeletePoint well taken, Ruslana. Umm...I think it is humane because to me life is like the only thing you've got, so to take that away is pretty much the worst thing you can do in MOST cases. I realize that some peoples lives are worse than death, but I think for the most part that isn't true. Plus I agree with what Stephen was saying...I mean if they truly deserve a punishment, life imprisonment gives them plenty of time to atone for whatever terrible crime they might've committed. I mean yes that seems like it's permitting suffering, I don't know, It's sort of a yin-yang deal in my mind.
ReplyDeleteOf course life imprisonment is a terrible punishment, yet keeping so many people trapped takes up a lot of space, and you need people to care for them. It’s not easy maintaining all those prisoners. Since anyways they have no life after their sentence (and a possible chance of escape and posing a threat to society in the future), I still think the death penalty is acceptable.
ReplyDeleteBut then again, both of you are right. Well, we all are. There is no answer to this question. Imprisoning people is wrong, killing them is wrong, murder is wrong. It all depends on what you consider- morality? Justice?
I think that above all things, the punishment should fit the crime. I think it is clear that there have been many cases in which a criminal has been put to death on unsubstatial evidence. I believe that in most cases if someone takes an innocent person's life, they should have to suffer for the ammount of years that they robbed their victim of, and then maybe spend a lengthy period in some sort of rehabilitative program. Or perhaps throw them all in some sort of factory where they have to run on treadmills to generate electricity for like 20 years. Thats sounds like a punishment to me... not to mention free energy. In all seriousness though, if death is to be the "ultimate punishment", it should only be administered when there is absolutle certainty of guilt..
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