Capital punishment was legal until 1972, when the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia; stating that it violated the Eight and Fourteen Amendments, citing cruel and unusual punishment. However, in 1976, the Supreme Court reversed itself with Gregg v. Georgia and reinstated the death penalty but, not all states have the death penalty.
Karla Faye Tucker became the 146th person executed by Texas after the Supreme Court voted to reinstate the death penalty in 1976. Texas is the leader in killing the mentally retarded and children.
I am in favor of the death penalty, because innocent lives can be saved. I believe life is sacred. Therefore, one who takes a life should have his own life taken away.
The rate of relapse is high for people who commit murder and crimes. I feel murderers should be executed the first time they commit a murder because, chances are they will kill another innocent person again. We need stricter laws and swifter death penalty.
The death penalty laws today are too lenient for killers. People on death row can watch T.V. and enjoy their lives for another 20 years before they are executed. For the States that do not have the death penalty killers don’t have to fear execution. Many murders are premeditated.
Remember, one of your loved ones could be murdered. Can you imagine what it would be like to have your loved one murdered? There would be no words that can explain the loss of your loved one.
4 comments:
I believe what you say is true and that we need stricter laws and a swifter death penalty. However, I disagree with your "immediate death sentence" idea.
There are times when a person accused of murder is innocent. If we use your "immediate death sentence" idea, then the innocent person is executed unjustly.
I agree that the death penalty needs to be swifter, but not immediate. I think that the death sentence should be a year or so after conviction in order to review the case and make sure that the accused is not innocent.
I agree with you about the death penalty, but I do see flaws in our justice system that faster executions would kill people that should not be put to death for their crimes due incompetent legal counsel, police or prosecutors who suppressed evidence and judges who gave jurors the wrong instructions.
According to wikipedia, “67% of capital convictions are eventually overturned; seven percent of those whose sentences were overturned were acquitted. Ten percent were retried and re-sentenced to death. The remainders typically end up with lesser sentences, up to and including life imprisonment”.
In conclusion, I disagree with your idea of faster executions. I believe having a death penalty with an appeals process is a good thing. Sometimes the courts get it wrong. I also do not agree with one of your facts, “Many murders are premeditated.” All murders must be premeditated, it they are not premeditated they are murder and are not punishable by death. I again agree with your last statement that, “There would be no words that can explain the loss of your loved one”. I would not want a person who was incorrectly convicted of murder of my loved one to be executed.
In this article Brian gives us important facts over the death penalty history in our country as important dates of court cases that made this law pass.
Nowadays there are people who still think that this is a very cruel punishment, arguing that no one has the right to take someone else’s life, even when the person had committed murder. I was looking at the Texas execution information center where you can actually find a list of the people that had been executed and you can also have access to their court case like this one: Jackie Barron Wilson, 39, was executed by lethal injection on May 4, 2006 in Huntsville, Texas for the abduction, sexual assault, and murder of a 5-year-old girl. I was dread after looking at those execution reports and I don’t think there’s a better punishment for those criminals, they have to pay for what they have done, that’s why I am in favor of the death penalty and I totally agree with Brian’s point of view over this topic.
I just don’t think that after all the harm that these criminals have done they should have all those privileges like being allow to watch T.V and live for twenty years more before they are executed.
Post a Comment