Monday, August 10, 2009
What to do about the death penalty
Well I just don't have a clue. Yesterday at work a buddy of mine and I, carried on a long discussion about our views and ideals of how we stand on the Death penalty. This was more or less brought on by a couple of articles we read about the Manson 'family' you know that group of people that got together and killed like 7 people thirty some years ago. We both agreed that he should be killed not only because of what he did but how much he is still costing tax payers. Now I don't know exactly how much it cost to keep these people locked up indefinitely but I am willing to venture well over 100,000 a year. Where as the alternative lethal injection is only about 75 dollars. Our main contradiction came when we began discussing the possibility of an innocent person sent to jail the rebuttal to that is their are to many steps in place that prevent it. But truly is quite impossible you would never kill an innocent person just as it is quite impossible you never imprison an innocent person. In the end it proved to be a difficult answer for a question that I had solved so many times with an easy answer, but in the end on principle I will continue to generally agree with the death penalty.
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I have a hard time agreeing with Stark and his opinion on the death penalty. The death penalty is the one topic that flusters me the most in life. I’m completely against it because who are we to decide whether someone lives or dies? What gives us the wisdom to discern whether or not a felon has committed a crime equivalent to punishment by death? Many people say it is a waste of money to keep these criminals alive and well in prison. I find that reasoning absolutely ludicrous! Are we so stingy that we can’t all shell out some extra cash to keep someone alive? In my opinion, criminals are no different than you and me. They are living and breathing human beings, but have done something extremely wrong in the eyes of man. Is it really necessary to treat them like dirt because they’ve messed up?
ReplyDeleteI definitely respect Stark’s opinion; it’s just hard to fathom how people can be content with the death penalty. For quite some time now I’ve found myself fighting against the death penalty. In my US history class this past year I dug myself into about a 40 minute heated debate regarding the death penalty. My rival and I were literally yelling across the room to one another and I became so fed up with her stubbornness that I almost left in the middle of class. I wish people could understand why it’s wrong to murder people because it’s the same thing we are condemning them for. So, wouldn’t it make sense to sentence that person to death as well? If we don’t we’d be considered hypocrites.
As for sentencing an innocent person to death, that fact also plays a huge role towards my opposition of the death penalty. Imprisoning innocent people happens quite often and we’ve killed many innocent people because we support the death penalty. It’s a risky punishment and I don’t think it’s worth it at all. Whether the criminal is innocent or not, you are still taking away someone’s life. You’re taking them away from their friends and family. Their death causes many trials and tribulations for all the people that were connected to that person. You’re not just punishing the criminal for their wrong doings but you’re punishing any human that is remotely connected to them and that isn’t right.