There is ongoing debates whether we as a society should be handing down death sentences. Both morally and economically, we wrestle with implications. The death sentence is as old as dirt itself. Many innocent as well a guilty criminals have been put to death over time.
From Socrates to Saddam Hussein, is this justifiable or not? It is impossible for me to remain neutral in this matter since I have already given it much objective thought and now have a firm opinion. Let's take a look at the information I have processed, then I invite you to compose a list of pros and cons with these considerations. Please be assured that I have collected data with as unbiased an opinion as possible and I urge you to use the same discerning techniques to form your own opinion.
We can take a look at the economical implications first since it is a very quick examination. In the United States, recent, thorough studies have concluded that it is, hands down, WAY more expensive to execute than to imprison for life, ten times more to be more precise. During these tough economic times it falls on tax payers to cover the 4.2 million dollars it costs to sentence and execute each prisoner.
Morally we can not assume that the victim's families wish the death penalty on the offender. Many of the victim's family members have expressed the additional, excruciating pain of waiting for the final curtain to be almost too much to bear. Many have also confessed that it just seems to feed the violence in mankind, that they feel they are dropping to the level of the criminal. They feel empty and sickened watching the execution, like they now have blood on their hands. To much time has passed and their anger turns into something else. Now these families of victims have been victimized further if they are uncomfortable with the sentence. They are forced to live with it. When no one close to you has been brutalized by a crazed killer, it's pretty easy to assume that if it did happen to someone you care about you would want revenge in the same fashion, but you never know for sure until you are there, then it's too late. Of the victim's families that were satisfied with the executions, many of them stated they felt better that the criminal could not harm others now. They did not definitively say they were satisfied that the criminal was executed, just relieved that he could not harm anyone else.
The implications for the future of the offender's families are endless as well. They will suffer for the other's crimes. Their chances of a normal life would be much greater if their murderous family member was sentenced to life. What good does it do the living to create so many more victims?
Let us not forget the conscience and soul of the people involved in the decision and execution. They may be God fearing and stand by their ten commandments, but are forced to push the button or pull the lever just because that was the job they got. How many people in the world take a job for the money and don't necessarily love it? Most...another man with blood on his hands. Imagine his nightmares.
I will not mention mercy for the offender, because mercy is not what drives me to oppose the death penalty, except to say this; we, as mortal beings, may know how awful it is to be incarcerated for life, but we do not know with any certainty what it is like to dead. It is very possible that putting the offenders to death is actually more merciful than incarcerating them for the rest of their lousy experience on earth. I would not have pity on the offender who is attacked and brutally murdered by the victim's family, to this I can relate. When someone you love so much has met such a tortured end, your life as you knew it is over. To seek revenge and gain it personally would bring one much more satisfaction than watching someone else do it. Now that the loved one is gone I'm sure one would gladly spend life in jail in return for feeling this satisfaction.
I will end by pondering this...with so many christian officials in the judicial system in the United States, how have they been able to enforce "thou shall not kill....unless it's us and the guy was REALLY bad"?
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