The Death PenaltyThe death penalty has been around in our history for centuries.
Animals, tribes, and government all use the death penalty for punishment and to prove dominance. When most people think about the death penalty they think of old English queens and the guillotine, or old western America and hangings. The death penalty has evolved over time to the methodical thing we see today. service writing job description The death penalty is use to punish major crimes or felonies. The crime that convicts a person to death varies from state to state.
This is because the courts are state ruled or state governed. Not every state uses the death penalty; some find it morally wrong. Out of the fifty the states in America, thirty four states still use their power to determine the life or death of a human being. The states that do practice the death penalty argued that it is in play to prevent future murders. They say this is giving an example to others who might try this same crime. Considering the amount of time the death penalty has been around why humans, as smart as they are, wouldn??™t get the message is beyond them.
Studies have shown that it takes someone to be completely out of the mind and body to kill someone out of cold blood. Then there is the idea that a person??™s sex, race, and age play a factor in who gets the death penalty and who just rots in prison. These states that participate in giving the death penalty believe that if you are older and nearing the time of a natural death you my just sit and wait it out. Also, there is the fact that they are too quick to hand out the punishment without the all the evidence or lack of. Since the death penalty was put back in to place eighty seven people have been released from death row; because of a DNA test proved their innocents. That is just one way that shows how the courts are not looking for all the evidence. These cases are just dropped after the judges feel like the case has been going on to long and send him to be put to death. We are playing with people??™s lives and they come to verdicts that scar families forever.
Troy Davis is an African American man that received the death penalty while ago. He gained a lot of attention when there was a large chance he could have been innocent. ???Most of the eyewitnesses recanted, and ballistics evidence was called inconclusive, but after 22 years of litigation, the legal system basically said enough was enough??? (Turow).
When statements like that were released his execution was already being put in to motion. The NAACP organized a protest to stop the execution. They had no success he died late that night with his family and the victims family watching. This was the very example of the injustice of the death penalty. A man was put to death with a more than a hope he was innocent. This was said to be a very controversial case considering it was yet again another ???white??? versus ???black??? case and there was no problem just killing another ???black??? man to ease the pain of a heartbroken ???white??? family. A believed innocent man was killed for what These are his final words release by the Georgia Department of Corrections,???Well, first of all Id like to address the MacPhail family.
Id like to let you all know that despite the situation — I know all of you still are convinced that Im the person that killed your father, your son and your brother, but I am innocent. The incidents that happened that night was not my fault. I did not have a gun that night.
I did not shoot your family member. But I am so sorry for your loss. I really am — sincerely.
All that I can ask is that each of you look deeper into this case, so that you really will finally see the truth. I ask to my family and friends that you all continue to pray, that you all continue to forgive. Continue to fight this fight. For those about to take my life, may God have mercy on all of your souls. God bless you all.???( Georgia Department of Corrections 2011)Right before his execution the mother of the victim, that Troy Davis was accused of killing, went on record saying she knows when she sees a killer and he is a killer. That is really what capital punishment has come to a guessing game, but if the death penalty is that hard to justify why do it in the first place The death penalty has basically become a coping mechanism for families or just another way to seek revenge for a loss loved one.You can??™t even say it??™s cheaper to just execute a man rather than keeping him in prison.
It cost one hundred and thirty-seven millions dollars a year to go through with an execution and it cost eleven and a half million to just keep in prison (?©2011 Death Penalty Information Center). So why is the death penalty still being used Hell! We are in a recession and they want to spend one hundred and twenty five million dollars of our money for something that??™s not totally necessary. That could take out a big chunk in the national debt or my college tuition, and the fact that this is just in California. So the gap between the two could possibly be a lot larger. So what is the real reason for the death penalty I think the victim??™s family has a lot to do with it.
The families of the victim go in front of juries with their heartfelt claims. They ask for justices and the death for another person so they can have peace. The families shouldn??™t be allowed in the court room unless they were there to see the crime. The lawyer is the one to blame putting the family members on the stand in front of the jury knowing that he or she does not have any relevance to the case. He just wants to appeal to the empathetic emotion of human. Really, what peace can they possibly get for having a man killed after he has already been incarcerated for a number of years and separated from their families. Anneliese MacPhail , the mother of Mark Allen MacPhail the victim, states just moments before the execution is actually carried out ???I will never have closure, But I may have some peace when he is executed”(CNN). ???Im disgusted.
I love to ask them when was the last time one of their sons got shot and killed and murdered,??? (fox Atlanta). The so called victims don??™t seem to think about the others family. De??™Jaun, the sister of Troy Davis, talks about her mother??™s death ???She had just received a clean bill of health from her doctor the day before her death. I dont think she could take another execution date. I believe she died of a broken heart??? (Davis-correia). They didn??™t do anything to have to watch the love one be killed.
Yet it happens and now two families are disoriented. So who is this actually helping Two families have lost people they love over absolutely nothing. The families are not the only ones that has to deal with the effects of an execution. The executioner has to deal with the fact that he is killing someone. Yes, the judge and jury have a similar connection, but they are not the final decision; the executioner is. They are the ones who have to carry that burden on their hearts with the faces burned into their memories.
With the possibility of the accused being innocent just would make the job harder. “You take an innocent life–that means I committed murder, Givens says??? (I Committed Murder). Even wardens have a hard time with executions; they have to be there and give the orders, “You have to appear normal,” she says. “You have to appear in control ??¦ You try to tell yourself and your staff that this is the law??? (I Committed Murder).
These people are put in a horrible place but no one ever thinks how they are affected by the execution, and the fact that the do not forgive themselves for carrying it out.I do not agree with Capital Punishment. I find something wrong with a form of government has the power to give the power of life or death; definitely when they do not have to be one hundred percent sure that a person is guilty. ???A recent tabulation by the Death Penalty Information Center showed that 138 prisoners were exonerated after being sentenced to death between 1973 and 2010??? (I committed murder). That??™s a large number of families that the government is hurting because they are being careless with someone else??™s life.
They don??™t think of the actual end result being wrong or a possibility of a mistake. These days if a crime is too widespread in the media there will be a quick end to the particular case. In most events that particular case ends in a wrong verdict and it is not normally corrected until it is too late. In 1944 a 14 year old African American male was accused of murdering two Caucasian females around his age. Their bodies were found in a ditch a day after they were reported missing and he was arrested hours later.
The boy was arrested because he and his sister were the last people to see the girls. sitting on the porch when then girls walked by and asked them a question the brother and sister answered the question and just like the rest of the town never saw them again. The sheriff ,soon after the arrest was made, said he got the boy to confess to the murders, and that was all they needed. The trial lasted one day no African Americans were let in to the court hours and the young boy had no witnesses.
That is about all you can find out about that trial because there are no records the sheriff said the boy confessed and that was enough. ? ???At 5 1″ and 95 pounds, the straps didn??™t fit to strap him to the chair, and an electrode was too big for his legs. The switch was pulled and the adult sized death mask fell from George Stinney??™s face??? (death penalty news). A young boy who was not even the right size for the equipment used to take his life was killed on the act of a ???he said???. It was later said that the boy was threatened that his mother would be killed if he didn??™t confess. There are also stories that the sheriff bribed the young boy with candy to get him to confess.
This was not too long ago that this took place; we have evolved so much since then, but we have not grown out of capital punishment. Therefore we are no better than these people who electrocuted this small boy, we just have bigger guns. The south is known as the Bible Belt of the United States. You might think that is kind of strange that this part of the United States has been the main user of the death penalty. The Bible Belt is responsible for a thousand executions since nineteen seventy-six. Why you might ask Well as of most things in the Bible there are two groups that completely see the death penalty. One side tells you that everyone deserves forgiveness and a second chance, the reason Jesus died on the cross. Then there is the other side that believes that if the person is guilty of the crime he should be punished, the Flood in Genesis.
So if the sides are split in two why does the death penalty become the more popular choices I do not know but according to statistics published by the United States Justice Department, ???68 percent of Protestants and 68 percent of Catholics favored the death penalty, while 64 percent of those who cited no religious faith also expressed support??? (Green), it has nothing to do with religion.The death penalty is on trail now to see if it is constitutional and morally right. I assume people are starting to see the problem with punishment, but this fight to put Capital punishment to death has been going on for forty years.
I do not understand the reason for this long gated trial. Is it not immoral to be able to tell someone the exact time they will die Is it not cruel and unusual to inject chemicals into someone??™s body in front of his family and for the satisfaction of the others I think this is common sense decision but yet the lives of innocent people continue to be taken by the government that??™s supposed to protect us.
