Capital punishment
I think capital punishment is a necessity in our society, but I also believe it is greatly flawed. Everyone that believes in the death penalty have their different reasons. Some believe it is a deterrent, some want a life for a life, and some think it is economically better than life in prison. I stand behind capital punishment, because I do not think someone that brutally kills someone else, should have the right to a possibly of getting their life back. I recently watched an inmate of mine, Kevin Underwood go through his trial for murdering and cutting up a 10 year old girl. He had no remorse during the trial and none after his conviction. He showed no remorse for that little girl, so why should society show him remorse by giving him a chance to someday be paroled. But where the system is flawed, is that he may not die for several years to come. In 2006 more 3,200 hundred people sit on death row in our country. Out of that only 42 were executed (www.ojb.usdoj.gov, 2008). During highly publicized death penalty cases the homicide rate is found to go down but it goes back up when the case is over (Bailey). But even if the facts do not show it to be an effective deterrent, someone should not be given the chance at having any kind of life after knowingly taking an innocent life. I think people who yell the loudest against capital punishment would be the first to want it if someone close to them was brutally killed. Our society tiptoes around things like civil rights, 8th amendment, and inhumane, but all these things do not stop the criminals from cycling back out onto the street. At least when someone is given the death sentence, they are not given the chance to return to society, they are gone away for good. I personally think that capital punishment is relaxed in that they do not execute enough each year and are worried about the process the person being executed goes through. Kevin Underwood wrote, after his trial, that he was not scared...