When it comes to the usage of the death penalty in America, we all know Texas isn’t shy about sentencing criminals to death. A few years ago, in 2011, Lawrence Russell Brewer was executed by the Texas government for the murder of James Byrd Jr in 1998 (Barranco). Forensic evidence proved Byrd’s cause of death was due to decapitation when he hit a culvert in the road while being pulled from the back of Brewer’s pickup truck. Despite the evidence, in court Brewer still claimed to be an innocent bystander, because one of his buddies allegedly sliced Byrd’s throat before he was chained to the truck and dragged for three and a half miles (CNN Wire Staff). Even after Brewer’s personal statement which said, “As far as any regrets go, no, I have no …show more content…
No criminal that has been executed ever hurt another person, because death took that ability away from them. In America if a criminal’s punishment isn’t the death penalty, the next worst punishment is life in prison. Life in prison is by no means a life one would want or choose to live, but despite the sentence being for the rest of their life, there have been an overflow of cases when a criminal is granted parole and released on good behavior. In most circumstances, these criminals that were in prison for murder or rape, murdered or raped more victims after their release. Their time spent in prison didn’t show them the light, nor did it change their desires. Within months of getting released individuals such as Michael Murdaugh, Scott Lehr, and Kenneth McDuff all indulged in the same actions they were convicted for in the years past. Both Murdaugh and Lehr were convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison, but were released on good behavior. After their release, Murdaugh violently murdered David Reynolds, and severed both his head and hands before burying the body, and Lehr raped and beat ten different women between the ages of 10 and 48 unconscious in the back of his car, but only three of them died in the process. McDuff was a serial killer, sentenced to the death penalty, but had the sentence overturned by Furman and was released. During his release it is projected he killed around 19 young women. He was finally convicted for the murder of Melissa Ann Northrup, and sentenced to death once again. McDuff was not quiet about his killings, instead he made comments like, “Killing a woman is like killing a chicken. They both squawk." McDuff was later executed by the government in 1998, and he never laid a hand on another victim again. (A List of Murderers Released to Murder
According to the article, Prosecutors Doubt Inmate Confession True, by Angela K. Brown, Billy Frank Vickers, condemned inmate, received a lethal injection on Wednesday night January 28, 2004 for a 1993 murder after confessing that he was involved in about a dozen other crimes, including the shootings that placed a cloud of suspicion over Davis for three decades (Brown). Jack Strickland, a former prosecutor in the Davis case, said he had never heard of Vickers and that his claims were a last-ditch attempt to get attention and monkey around with the system. Now the question arises of whether lethal injection was the best option for punishing Billy Frank Vickers, not because he is innocent, but because of the question of whether it is humane to take away someone’s life by inserting chemicals into his or her body that may cause more pain than can ever be imagined. I personally believe that there is no justifiable reason to give someone the death penalty as a form of punishment.
Capital punishment is not an effective punishment or deterrent for murder or any crime for various reasons. To many prisoners, being detained in a prison is much more of a punishment than death as is it a constant, conscious deprivation of liberty and rights. This idea is represented though US Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh who claimed after dropping his appeals against his death sentence that he would rather die than...
Capital punishment results in the victims family gaining a greater sense of security, making sure the criminal is able to be punished to the highest degree for his crime, and honoring retribution. The issue of capital punishment has created a division
Is the death penalty fair? Is it humane? Does it deter crime? The answers to these questions vary depending on who answers them. The issue of capital punishment raises many debates. These same questions troubled Americans just as much in the day of the Salem witch trials as now in the say of Timothy McVeigh. During the time of the Salem witchcraft trials they had the same problem as present society faces. Twenty innocent people had been sentenced to death. It was too late to reverse the decision and the jurors admitted to their mistake. The execution of innocent people is still a major concern for American citizens today.
It's dark and cold, the fortress-like building has cinderblock walls, and death lurks around the perimeter. A man will die tonight. Under the blue sky, small black birds gather outside the fence that surrounds the building to flaunt their freedom. There is a gothic feel to the scene, as though you have stepped into a horror movie.
Don’t get me wrong, if a person proven guilty of murder, especially as heinous as this crime was, they deserve the death penalty but only if there was “no shadow of a doubt” hard pieces of evidence, more real proof, not circumstantial evidence, are connecting that person to the crime.
It is the firm belief and position here that committing such a crime as murder is punishable by death. Americans should take a position for anyone on death row, to be executed sooner rather than later.
Instead, these individuals are subjected to the structural violence of the system, and are largely given “life without possibility of parole” sentences. No matter how remorseful they are, how much they have learned, or how young and naive they were when the crime was committed, these individuals will never get the chance to live a different type of life.
“How the Death Penalty Saves Lives” According to DPIC (Death penalty information center), there are one thousand –four hundred thirty- eight executions in the United States since 1976. Currently, there are Two thousand –nine hundred –five inmates on death row, and the average length of time on death row is about fifteen years in the United States. The Capital punishment, which appears on the surface to the fitting conclusion to the life of a murder, in fact, a complicated issue that produces no clear resolution.; However, the article states it’s justice. In the article “How the Death Penalty Saves Lives” an author David B. Muhlhausen illustrates a story of Earl Ringo , Jr, brutal murder’s execution on September ,10,
On July 5, 1978, Robert Harris took the life of two innocent teenage boys that were just trying to enjoy their burgers in a car. Robert, 25 premeditated the ending to these innocent teens by stealing and then driving the car into a canyon where he repeated shot the boys as they tried to escape from this monster. On top of everything that Robert did to these boys, the most sickening part is when he took their burgers and laughed about the murder well eating it. Robert Harris was sentenced to death row for the murder of John Mayeski and Michael
The death penalty ensures fair retribution for the loved ones of the criminal’s victim. In 1977, Clarence Ray Allen was convicted for murder after arranging the death of a witness against him in a burglary case and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without parole. In 1980, Allen organized the killings of the witnesses who had worked against him in his previous conviction. Finally, Allen was sentenced to death, but it wasn’t until 2006 that he was executed (Ardaiz). During those twenty-six painful years, the families and loved ones of the victims had to spend their days knowing that the one who had torn apart their family was still alive. As James A. Ardaiz, a former judge, and the prosecutor on the case of Allen, so succinctly put it, “Retribution is not only a need of society; it is a right of those victimized.” One person who the death penalty brought peace to was John Rizzotti. Rizzotti’s 78 year old great grandmother was sexually abused and murdered in1980 by Manuel Babbitt, and Rizzotti says that his family found relief in Babbitt’s execution in 1999. Rizzotti recounts that the legal process from conviction to execution was frustrating, but he believes that the families of murder victims have the right to see the murderers put to death. “What he did and how he did it was so unbelievably gruesome that there w...
1. Most of the democratic countries of the world have abolished capital punishment. Indeed, it was only recently (2005) that the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to sentence a person to death for a crime he committed while younger than 18. For older offenders, however, the United States continues to execute convicted criminals. Why do you think the United States practices capital punishment?
How do we as a society change the policies on how police officers are punished when they are found guilty of murder. Police officers need to be held to the same standards as each and every other citizen when it comes to murder. If a officer have been found guilty by the court of law of murder they should have the same sentence as every other citizen. The punishment for murder needs to be enforced upon police officers who have committed murder. One too many times throughout the United States police officers have been acquitted of murder after killing unarmed suspects . Police officers are trained for the following situations they have a code of conduct of how they supposed to follow when approaching a person.A train police officer should
It must be remembered that criminals are real people too, which have. life and with it, the feeling of pain, fear and the loss of their loved ones and all the other emotions that the rest of us feel. There is no such thing as a humane way of putting someone to death. Every type of execution causes the prisoner physical suffering, some. methods perhaps cause less than others, but be in no doubt that being.
Proponents of the death penalty are right to argue that capital punishment does provide a sense of “closure” to those who are faced with the tragedy of losing a loved one due to homicide, but they exaggerate when they claim that this is the only means by which murderers receive just punishment for their crimes. Advocates of the death penalty fail to recognize that there are alternative methods – such as psychotherapy – that are able to replace the barbaric method of the death penalty.