Is the Death Penalty really the Way to Go?

A few of my classmates has recently put in a blog covering the death penalty. One of them is by Nayaram whose blog could be visited at Texas, O Texas. In the beginning she gives a quote from the Jamail Center for Legal Research. By paraphrasing, the quote states that Texas district courts would have original jurisdiction for all criminal felony cases. The State could decide to give an individual the punishment of death, if they are convicted of a capital felony. In order to reach a capital felony, one would have to “intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual,” under special circumstances.”

Nayaram then gives reasons to abject this statement by sharing her opinions on the matter. She feels that the death penalty “is an easy way out of the problem for not only the government, but also, the person that committed the crime.” Nayaram also understands the reasons to have the death penalty. One example is the expenses to harbor a prisoner. She is absolutely right. According a PBS article, the average yearly cost per prisoner in the U.S. in 2001 was $22,650. Regardless of facts, she believes that freeing inmates “from a lifetime of guilt and suffering in a small cell isn’t justice. Sentencing them to a lifetime in prison has far more penalizing repercussions.” I could understand her reasoning and agree with the no death penalty, but I might look at it differently.

To fix the problem, Nayaram suggested concentrating on repairing the problems now. She says, “If we work on improving the stability of their [inmates] psyche, making them mentally healthy, it will prevent problems from arising later, whether it is them, their children, or their grandchildren.” There are jails where inmates could decide to come in for rehabilitation. This is a long term commitant that ask them to retell their crime among peers. In the end of the rehabilitation process, the inmate visits the victim’s family. I believe that there should not only be an rehabilitation for inmates, but we should also focus on rehabilitating the victim’s families. More specifically we need to learn how to heal through reconciliation, forgiveness.

There was an interesting article called “An Argument Against Allowing the Families of Murder Victims to View Executions,” by Michael Lawrence Goodwin. He says that families generally give one or two reasons to attend an execution. One is to have an opportunity for closure. Other family members may view their presence in the execution chamber as a final opportunity to represent their murdered family member in the criminal justice process. Does viewing the execution really heal or does it make it worst? No matter what I don’t believe one could simple have closure with a violate loss of a love one. However, there is a different between carrying the burden with you to allowing the burden to consume you. This article is a fairly easy read with real quotes from people that has live through it. The quote that jumped out at me was to the second general reason to view the execution. One mother said, “It’s the last thing we can do for the girls…It’s not going to be easy, but it may help us,” as she prepares to watch the execution of her daughter’s killer.

I can’t help, but to make a connection from this quote to another. They said that “Healing has to be bigger and better than reducing ourselves to participating in gruesome acts.” This was by Brooks Douglass who had a sense of satisfaction after meeting with George Ake, the other man convicted of killing his parents. I agree with his statement though. If you do something, do it all the way and don’t just stop for less. Like me writing this blog. Man… I am way over due with this. I already have what I need to get a good grade (I hope). Now I’m just slowly torturing the people who are foolish enough to continue to read this. Hahaha Well, all I’m saying is that forgiveness is a powerful thing. Not a lot of people can do it. I can only imagine how big a burden it would be if it where to fall on my shoulders. I'm still blessed to have all my grandparents along with the rest of REALLY BIG family. If we execution the inmate before we give them a chance to decide to go into rehabilitation, then that visit between the killer and the victim’s family will never happen. The memory of the love one is too great to end it with a bloody act.

I’ll end it with a powerful story… Step by Step A Jounrey of Hope: Marietta Jaeger