Death?

   Ok, so one of the most talked about controversial issue in the United States is Capital Punishment, or the Death Penalty. Yes, this is a topic many pick up and people get tired of hearing about it, but it's something I feel very strongly about. Right now, the economy and the president are the talk of the nation, as they should be, but I think we should always remember this issue. Honestly, I believe that Capital Punishment should be abolished from the United States for three major reasons: 1. because its unconstitutional 2. it's costs are ridiculous and 3. it is definately full of flaws.
    Lets start with the basics.Capital Crimes include, but are not limited to: Pre-meditated murder, aggravated rape, excessive kidnapping, and even- in some states- perjury that results in a person’s death. Capital Punishment is the execution of a convicted felon, with its various forms of implementation. Two forms of common execution include lethal injection and electrocution. Other forms of execution include gas chambers, like the ones used by Hitler in WWII, hanging, and even a firing squad. Is that enough background info for you guys?
      Now to get started on my opinions :). The constitution states against "cruel and unusal punishment", right? But the thing is, what constitutes as cruel and unusual? Does a person receiving 2,500 volts of electricity, which is only for a 15 second period to make the condemned unconscious, count as cruel and unjust? Or the fact that sometimes the procedure goes wrong and the condemned are being tortured with pain while the chair has to go in for repairs? In 1947 this happenned to a black man named Willie Francis. The worst part was that he could have been innocent, but he was condemned by an all white jury :/.  Sometimes heads would catch fire during this...bleh. How about how a lethal injection causes the condemned not to be able to breathe and has been reported to take up to two hours? People might say that this probably happened a long time ago. Well, May 24 of 2007, Christopher Newton's sentence was carried out via lethal injection and it did take two hours for him to die. That isn't too long ago. Unfortunately, these scenarios are real and they are scary to think about. You might say that they deserve it for whatever they did, but I just don't agree on that point, but I'll get to that point later.You know, even thirty-four minutes is still an extremely long time for someone to be in the process of dying, which was a case in Florida a few years back. Because of this Jeb Bush, yes the brother, actually put a moratorium on the Death Penalty so it can be scrutinized. This is a little odd to hear as most conservative republicans agree whole-jeartedly with the death penalty. Then again, I am a republican and I do not agree with it. But, can all this be counted as cruel and unusual punishment? In an 1890 New York Times report they stated “ it took two shots, flesh and hair singed, blood appeared on his face” about the execution of William Kemmler, who was the first ever to be sentenced and killed by the electric chair in the U.S. Of course, this definitely doesn’t sound like cruel and unusual punishment.
          The facts are, that not only do I believe that the death penalty is unconstitutional, but the costs are extremely high. Did you know that in 2001, Indiana's cost for death row was 38% higher than the cost was for the life in prison without parole sentences? I'm sorry but thats just ridiculous. People make the excuse that we use tax payer money to keep these slimeballs alive in prison, but the truth is your spending more money to give them an easy way out of the regretful and lonely life they should be living. Texas has over 300 people on Death Row and is spending an average of 2.3 million dollars on each case, but it still has one of the highest crime rates in the U.S. so it obviously isn't a detterent. Why don't we use the money to educate our kids more, that way we don't have to worry about these problems as much lol.
       How many people are falsely convicted or crimes, anyway? I know a lot of people that say it's worth it if a few people die in order to get rid of all the bad people. Sometimes we have to make sarifices. But, what if it was your son or daughter; what if it was your father or mother? How would you fell about it then? There is evidence that four men that have been executed in recent years have been innocent. False Conviction is an extremely appalling thought. For example, the Salem Witch Trials; were the convicted really witches? Did they really deserve to be publicly hung for a crime that they were innocent of? Of course not.
         The thing is, I understand that many people want vindication for wrongs that have been commited towards them or their loved ones, but the death penalty really isn't an effective detterent. Since 1930, there have been more than 4050 executions in America, and yet the crime rates are still inflated. In 1996 there were 19,020 arrests for murder and 33,050 for forcible rape. The death penalty was enforced 44 times out of all these arrests.The first thing is that the arrest numbers in one year for those crimes alone are extremely high and secondly, why were only 44 people sentenced to death. If the crimes the same shouldn’t they be punished the same? After all the Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal”. Unfortunately, a lot of different factors are at play here. 
       The bible states “an eye for an eye” but does the Death Penalty really give the family of the victims any closure? If anything the trial pending the death penalty prolongs there suffering. Even if the murderer is killed, the family is still going to be grieving for their loved one. By executing this person they aren’t going to get their loved ones back. Plus is vindication really what this country is about? Payback in this kind is not just and our country is based on the foundation of justness, is it not?
          Seriously, in my opinion the death penalty should be abolished because it is a violation to human's right to live and contains more flaws in the system than the ability to serve the purpose of teaching society what awaits one who breaks the law. I see how people can have different opinions, but idk I just find it a little hypocritical

Quote of the Week by Helen Straus. She's just an ordinary woman, but when i read this, it sounded like she could be talking for all Americans.
“Every time we murder someone as a government and as a society we lose more of our social soul. It continues to be incredible to me that we can claim murder to be wrong and continue to commit murder ourselves.”

Thanks for reading. Bye