Student: Death penalty necessary
I am sick and tired of listening to people talk about how capital punishment is immoral, barbaric, racist, etc. The fact of the matter is, that it is closest thing we have to justice. Death row inmates are not victims, they are criminals. In 1984 Joseph Carl Shaw, an admitted murderer, wrote the following in his appeal to the governor, “Killing is wrong when I did it. Killing is wrong when you do it. I hope you have the courage and moral strength to stop the killing.” Isn’t that ironic that cold-blooded killers are lecturing us on morality? Where was this morality when they raped and killed innocent people? Or did this newfound reverence for human life came out from realization that they were soon to lose their own? It is really astounding that these murderers only seem to “find God” when it becomes beneficial to them. Did we become so blind that we fail to notice the real victims? Are the lives of these murderers more important to us than the lives of the people they killed? It should be clear that the victims here are the innocent people, who were brutally murdered, raped and mutilated. In his article, Mr. Nekervis states that human organizational systems are fallible and thus result in horrible mistakes where innocent citizens are punished. Well Mr. Nekervis, if our government only functioned when there was no possibility for error, then our government would not function at all. It is true that occasionally mistakes happen, but those mistakes helped us develop a justice system with better investigation techniques, more thorough collection of evidence and multiple appeals to present new evidence.Mr. Nekervis later goes on to say, “What they (victim’s family) require during this grievous time in their lives is emotional and monetary support.” I don’t know where you get your morals from Mr. Nekervis, but to me, no amount of money can ever replace the loss of a loved one. Has our society really evolved to the level where even human life has a price? If that is so, then you might as well execute me first, because I don’t want to live in such society. As far as the death penalty being racist, that is partly true. However, the cause of this problem is not in the death penalty. The cause of this problem is in the socioeconomic factors which drive certain groups of people to commit more crime. If we are to be just, we must apply the laws to everyone equally. Mr. Nekervis presented a study, conducted in Georgia, to show how the death penalty is racist. In 1987 this same study was presented as evidence in the McCleskey v. Kemp case. The Supreme Court found that, “There is no merit to petitioner’s argument that the Baldus study proves that the State has violated the Equal Protection Clause by adopting the capital punishment statute and allowing it to remain in force despite its allegedly discriminatory application. For this claim to prevail, petitioner would have to prove that the Georgia Legislature enacted or maintained the death penalty statute because of an anticipated racially discriminatory effect. There is no evidence that the legislature either enacted the statute to further a racially discriminatory purpose or maintained the statute because of the racially disproportionate impact suggested by the Baldus study.”We don’t have to like the death penalty, but it is a necessary punishment to stop cold-blooded murderers from killing again. Unfortunately, we are looking for the solution in the wrong places. If the people tried to prevent crime rather than punishment, we would live in a much safer world.
Michael W. Siward Sophomore, CIS
