Who Wants Capital Punishment?
Surprisingly, not everyone wants the death penalty on the table as a possible punishment for certain, heinous crimes.
Of course, some people do.
I came across a letter today in the Omaha World Herald that I’m going to share with you in the hopes that it will illustrate some of the frustration that the relatives of victims and other people left behind feel when the story is over and the reporters have gone home.
I am one of the daughters of the Omaha cab driver who was murdered in 1979 by Carey Dean Moore. Reuel Van Ness Jr. was my father.
I don’t know how (someone) can write and say that the death penalty should be dropped in Nebraska.
I am a victim, and (someone) might not know how it feels to be a victim of such a cruel murder. My father and Maynard Helgeland were innocent men who were working to earn extra money to support their families.
I don’t have a father, and my children don’t have a grandfather. I was only 12 years old when my father was murdered. Moore was 22 at the time. He is 49 years old now. My father was only 47 when he was murdered, so Moore has lived longer than my father did.
And who paid for him to live this long? Taxpayers.
Nebraska should stick with the electric chair. I hope the day will come soon for justice, and I sure hope and pray that it won’t take another 28 years.
28 years is too long.
8 years is too long.
If we’re sure we have the right guy – if the offender has confessed, or if the evidence is overwhelming – why do we even wait for one year to mete out justice?
Give the evil-doer a one-way, express ticket to Hell.
What do you think?
9 Comments »
I agree with Capital Punishment. I dont think it should take forever either. I do not think it needs to be very expensive, a rope, an axe, a bullet will do just as well as electricity or gas or lethal injection.
For some crimes, like rape and murder of a small child, I like an eye for an eye kind of thing, and a shot to the head, or hanging is too good, to quick…
Justice delayed is justice denied. Guilty as Hell. he crossed the line and he should pay the price. As pointed out, It is wrong for him to go on living while his victim could not.
Although it seems just, sometimes the death penalty is an easy out. The person who commits such heinous crimes has to live with him/herself in that small cell surrounded by people who do not know how to show kindness, love or compassion. I have never been in jail, but I am in close contact with someone who sees it everyday. I can surmise that it is not a nice place to be. I do not disagree with capital punishment, but I am somewhat conflicted on its place in the justice system. I do, however, have that streak in me that wants to see some of these people REALLY suffer. But is there more suffering to be had at the hands of others who know hate and pain better than any of us on the outside? I do have some problems with the idea that a murderer or rapist has any right to civil liberties. I think when you commit a crime that strips another of their rights, that you should no longer be considered a citizen. Rehabilitation only works for those that do not have blood on their hands. You can rehab a drug dealer, but how do you rehab a person who kills a child? The true death penalty should make them what they are: a pariah. Make these people live without rights and strip them of citizenship. I guarantee that it won’t be long before they do the job for us.
I cannot make myself agree with capital punishment. I know, I could never cause or initiate, or even suggest the death of another human, regardless of the heinous nature of that person, or the crime they have committed.
Some people would feel avenged by the death of the person who had made a victim of themselves, or their family members. But I can’t help but think of the person forced to carry out the execution. Killing someone for whatever reason, legally or not, is not a fate I could wish or force on anyone.
Also, it must be considered that some forms of execution still used are not painless? Death by lethal injection, in particular, often uses less anaesthesia than localised foot surgeries, leading to the possibility of of the prisoner feeling the other chemicals burning through their veins before dying. It seems to me that this process should be re-evaluated, as sending someone to their death should be done in the most humane way, if it has to be done at all.
In short, this essay (sorry =$) can be summed up in one, unfortunately biblical, phrase. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
I know that not everyone will agree with me, but I hope that this expression of my opinion will make someone, somewhere, reconsider their own.
I hate criminals but I don’t think the death penalty should be used much, if at all. I’d rather let guilty men live than let innocent men die, and that sort of thing can certainly happen in the system. Look at Dr. Charles Smith, for one. And keeping inmates on Death Row during their legal procedures costs more than keeping them alive without the legal costs.
Dennis,
I’d like you to do me a favor, if you’d be so kind. I want you to read the most recent featured story about Jesse Caleb Compton, and then I’d like you to present your argument about why this “man” should be kept alive.
My father was murdered in 1953; I was 4, my sisters were 2 and 10 months, my mother was 24. His killer was never caught; for a while it was the most famous unsolved murder in our state, but time passes and people forget.
In spite of the empty place in my heart, in spite of the devastation his death brought to our family, I do not support the death penalty. Not because I’m a liberal Democrat *gasp*, not for reasons of faith either; I’m just plain mean. I like to think of murderers, molesters, child killers et al locked up for life with the scum of the earth.
Just think of it, LWOP…Every freedom gone, told when to get up, when to go to sleep, what to wear, when you can shower, when and what to eat and how long you can take to eat it. Locked up with crazy, violent scumbags, watching your back every minute, waiting to get shanked; spending every minute in fear of being jumped by some con who might think it’s a good idea to beat the shit out of you, and the endless boredom of nothing to do, nowhere to go. Being forced to work at jobs you hate, no tv, no internet, dependent on the kindness of relatives/friends (if you have any left), for every convenience we take for granted.
Every day is just like the last one, and the one before that; and tomorrow will be the same. A miserable cell to live in, a cellie who’s as much a shitbag as you are, the gangs and the constant noise and shit talk. Don’t know about other states, but Angola doesn’t even have air conditioning except in the administrative wing, the chapel and visiting rooms…in Louisiana in the summer (fall is just as bad).
Life without parole is A-OK with me; death is just too merciful for me; I want them to suffer. I apologize for the long post, I get carried away sometimes.
Funny, by doing a little research you’ll find that
a) There are more murders in states with capital punishment, less in states without. Deterrant? hmm.
b) It actually costs more to kill an inmate than feed him for life. LOOK IT UP.
c) When you die, you die. No more pain in your life, no more regret or sorrow. That’s it. This is 2012, I feel most people are starting to wake up and get over faery tales telling you if you’re a bad person in life you’ll go to a big red place with scary demons that poke you with tridents and laugh while you burn. Let ‘em rot.
and of course, people can be rehabilitated. That’s the point of prison. Well, in every country besides the US anyway.
The facts are out there, capital punishment is a waste of time and taxpayer’s money, death is all too merciful of a punishment for the wicked.
a) By doing a little research you’ll see that New Hampshire has a death penalty and has the lowest murder rate:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/murder-rates-nationally-and-state#MRord
Perhaps what you need to consider is that population density and urban density is a better fit curve than your model.
b) In California. California has a 20 year long appeal cycle for Death Penalty. Texas has streamlined a bit too much, but they’ve killed very young inmates.
c) The death penalty has a purpose right now. We have some people we can’t treat, can’t deal with and who are so dangerous that we can never let them back into our society. There’s a pair of men who raped and murdered little girls and the wife of a doctor. They left that doctor for death. Their very existence is a pain to this victim of their violent crime. We’ll treat the doctor and we’ll execute the animals who claimed to be human. When we have a treatment for people like that that can work, we can try to be a little more understanding. Without the driving force of a death penalty, we’re probably not going to see that treatment, and meanwhile, we have a few people that deserve to be out of this world.