Debate Over Capital Punishment
Debate Over Capital PunishmentJustice can not be served until the debate on capital
punishment is resolved and all states have come to agree that the
death penalty is the best way to stop crime completely.
"The bottom line is, one method of execution is just as brutal
and as barbaric as the next," says Mr. Breedlove of the National
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. This comes straight from the
mouth of a member of a national organization against capital
punishment. The American Heritage� Dictionary of the English
Language, Third Edition defines execution as The act or an instance of
putting to death or being put to death as a lawful penalty. So if
Breedlove�s words hold true, then what he believes is that someone
going out and killing someone is barbaric. In a sense isn�t that what
he�s saying, that one way of killing someone is just as bad as any
other. So if he finds this so barbaric, why doesn�t he do something
about it?
Many people who are against capital punishment are only
thinking of the criminal and how cruel it is for them. But, shouldn�t
we think of the families that are broken apart now because of the
merciless acts of these criminals. Think of Susan Smith, how she
knowingly drove her car off into a lake with her two children strapped
to the seats. Think of how they must have felt as the cold water
started to fill the cabin of the car, and then ultimately drown them.
Barbaric is exactly the word I would use to describe her actions.
But yet, the jury rejected the death penalty and chose a life sentence
instead. Mr. Smith, the father of the two children, broken up from
the ruling said "Me and my family are disappointed that the death
penalty was not the verdict, but it wasn�t our choice. They returned
a verdict they thought was justice" (Bragg, pg.
1+).
But was it justice that she was not put to death for killing
her two children. How could someone possibly let her off the hook of
such a crime. They said it would be just as bad for her to be in that
cell alone because of her depression, but does it justify her cutting
short the lives of the two children who had no idea of their oncoming
death. "All grandeur, all power, all subordination to authority rests
on the executioner: he is the horror and the bond of human
association. Remove this incomprehensible agent from the world and at
that very moment order gives way to chaos, thrones topple and society
disappears." Says Joseph de Maistre, a eighteenth century French
diplomat. He is right, if we give up our punishing a deadly criminal,
then we throw our society into chaos and let the criminals freely do
as they please. I would know I was safe if anyone that tried to
fatally harm me would be put to death. But in this society when
someone can kill someone, get sentenced to life, get paroled and then
freed to go about and do the same crime again frankly scares me.
Another thing that scares me is the fact that this country has
softened up on criminals. It�s hard to think that now a days everyone
has a right, even though when you go against the law and are put in
prison, you are suppose to be stripped of your rights. Not so
anymore. Justice in the nineties has slacked up a bit.
"In the late 1950�s, on any given day there were about two
hundred prisoners awaiting execution," says Hugo Bedau of Tufts
University, Massachusetts. "Hardly any remained on Death Row for more
than a year." Today [November 1995], there are 15 times that number,
and many have been there for over a decade. Opponents of the death
penalty say this statistic is a moral outrage. Supporters see it as
undermining a key advantage of the death penalty over life
imprisonment: it saves tax-payers the huge cost of keeping murderers
locked up (Matthews, pg.�s 38-42).
Most of those against capital punishment argue that the forms
of execution are gruesome. While some might be seen that way at
first, others offer the advantages that both parties can agree on. In
1994 there were two hundred fifty seven executions in the United
States. There were five methods of doing so, as follows:
---
Lethal Injection: 133
Electrocution: 112
Gas Chamber: 9
Hanging: 2
Firing Squad: 1
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Electric Chair
First used in New York in 1890 and still in use in 13 states,
"old sparky" was the horrific outcome of Thomas Edison�s attempt to
show the dangers of the AC power supply being promoted by his rivals.
The condemned is strapped to a wooden chair, electrodes are attached,
and a shock of thirty thousand watts is applied. The prisoner is
literally cooked internally, and death my require multiple shocks.
Gas Chamber
First used in Nevada in 1921, the gas chamber is an airtight
room with a chair into which the accused is strapped. Death is caused
by exposure to cyanide gas, produced when sodium cyanide is dropped
into sulfuric acid. The suffering caused is deliberate and plain to
see: writhing, vomiting, shaking and gasping for breath for many
seconds. This horrendous technique is used only in a few US states.
Lethal Injection
Introduced in the US in 1977 and now in use in 23 states, this
is the most widespread method and arguably the most humane. The
condemned is strapped to a table and injected with sodium thiopentone,
losing consciousness in 10 to 15 seconds. This is followed by
pancuronium bromide, which blocks respiration, and finally potassium
chloride to stop the heart (Matthews, pg.�s 38-43).
While electrocution is obviously not the most painless way to
execute someone, it does offer a deterrent for future crime. I know
that I personally would not murder anyone if I knew that I would be
executed with the electric chair. Such a deterrent keeps most people
safe as they go about in their lives.
But does it do any good? Does executing someone for such
crimes actually prevent future occurrences? Some would say no, others
would say yes, but me I have the notion that in some cases yes, but in
others no. I say this because, unlike in the nineteenth century, we
do not make our executions as public as they did. We do not take the
criminal and hang them in the streets where everyone can see them. Or
we are not like over in Europe where they would execute the criminal
in broad daylight and with the entire town around. It was a fanfare
ritual back then. Now it is just an unseen deed done at prisons. We
should bring it back into the open so that everyone can see the
consequences of your crimes.
When they execute someone with the electric chair they usually
wait until close to midnight because then they know that not too many
people will be using electricity as the chair needs thirty thousand
watts, or the equivalent of four hundred seventy-five watt light bulbs
turning on at the same time. And it needs more then one shock, so it
drains a massive amount of electricity from the power company.
What if they were to go back to the old days. Then the
deterrent factor would most definitely rise because of the publicly
displayed execute of the criminals. It would send out the signal that
anyone who can commit the crime, can also pay for it. That�s the main
reason for the death penalty anyway, to tell every criminal and future
criminal that you�ll have to pay for your crimes that you commit.
As Robert Matthews a journalism for Focus an English magazine
once wrote, "Some people argue that the absence of capital punishment
in this country [England] is the mark of a civilized society. I
believe we are rapidly becoming uncivilized. Some of the things that
happen on our streets and in people�s homes certainly do not
constitute civilized behavior." (Matthews, pg.�s 38-42)
That exact same quote can be used to describe our nation as
well. Some will argue that the capital punishment is such a harsh and
uncivilized way of treating criminals, but look at how they act. They
do not care about the lives of those they have destroyed. They are
the ones that make this nation uncivilized. They are the ones that
are the most uncivilized individuals in this entire country. If
anything, the death penalty is not enough. It can never bring back
the loved ones to the families that have lost them. It can never
bring back the innocent lives that have been taken in cold blood.
Capital punishment must be the standard by which each and
every state must abide by. If we can not join together and defeat
crime, it will most certainly take us over. We can no longer sit and
let our lives be terrorized. No longer can we sit back and watch
criminals be released and then kill again. No longer must we
Americans or anyone live our lives in fear. We must come together and
draw the line on crime. We must make the world safe so that we and
our children may once again live in a world without the fear of being
senselessly killed or losing our loved ones. For a cold blooded
killer, capital punishment is the only true justice.