The Death Penalty

Do we have the right to kill, even in the name of justice?

Many people have strong pro and con feelings on this subject, discussed and argued about only second to abortion. Putting another human being to death is a hard thing to think about until you realize the horrible things one person can do to another without drastic punishment as a determent.

"The death penalty is a warning, just like a lighthouse throwing light beams out to sea. We hear about shipwrecks, but do not hear about the ships the lighthouse guides safely on their way. We don't have proof of the number of ships it saves, but we do not tear the light house down" (poet Hyam Barshay). This quote is showing that even though we can't say how many murders capital punishment has prevented it is still known to help prevent people from killing other people.

The death penalty has been part of our civilization since earliest times, from the ancient cultures to the Romans were harsh and swift in their judgments and execution. Jesus himself was a victim of the death penalty. Up though time murder has always been punishable by death as well as many other crimes. Justice was often harsh and brutal. In England there was hanging, drawing and quartering or beheading, France the guillotine was used as being quicker. When we came to this country we brought the same ideals with us. The witches of Salem were burned or drowned when they were thought to cause deaths. We used firing squads, hanging was popular in the east as well as out west, the electric chair and gas chamber, now the lethal injection. And until the present time justice was swift! When our forefathers signed the constitution the death penalty was being used but no mention of it was made in the 8th Amendment as the death penalty being "cruel or unusual punishment", because they did not feel being put to death because you deliberately took anothers life was unusual or cruel but EXPECTED!

At this time in 2001 the 32 states that have the death penalty have 3756 men and women waiting on death row. Of these 48% are White, 1677, 42% Black, 1481, 8% Hispanic 265, and 2%, 107 other races. In 1998, 68, 1999, 98, 2000, 68 deaths on death rows. The inmates have been on death row on an average of 9 years, which costs about $32,000.00 per year, not counting the cost of appeals, about $150,000.00 to $275,000.00 per appeal.

I do not bel...

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...m as their Mother. Where is the unimaginable horror the victim felt, the terror and pain, the knowing they will never see their loved ones again or be able to say good-bye, when all that happens to the murderer is a lethal injection, going to sleep! Somehow this is not fair!

If your sister was killed by such a man as Ted Bundy would you like him released , living in prison being interviewed, writing books, a celebrity, or DEAD?

We should all vote for politicians that believe in the death penalty, be part of polls that affirm the death penalty and speak out when you are asked. I personally believe the death penalty is the only way to curb the senseless killing that has become so much a part of our culture but it should be quick and certain. The only cruel and unusual punishment is letting these murderers set in prison while the victims family suffer.

"Indeed, the decision that capital punishment may be the appropriate sanction in extreme cases is an expression of the community's belief that certain crimes are themselves so grievous an affront to humanity that the only adequate response may be the penalty of death."

Supreme Court of the United States