Is the death penalty just or unjust?

The death penalty is not only just, but practical. Since the bleeding heart do-gooders have been getting their way, the crime rate in America has skyrocketed. The perception that human life is valuable has fallen by the wayside as pro choice activists brainwash the youth of America into thinking that Abortion is a women’s issue when it is in fact a human rights issue.

It seems that there are a lot more people in the media, in Hollywood, and in our school systems who are making more and more excuses for bad behaviour rather then punishing it. More and more criminals are being made to look like victims themselves rather then the monsters they are. As a result, countless groups have popped up all over that are anti capital punishment. It doesn’t matter what these monsters do because it’s not their fault. It was their upbringing, their childhood experiences, the company they keep, the victim’s fault. Everyone else is to blame but them.

The death penalty used to serve two main purposes. It was used as a deterrent and it brought a sense of justice and closure to the victim’s families. Now it seems to be another political tool in the tool box, to be used when they think it will help their chances of winning.

Let’s take a practical look at the prison systems today. For starters, the punishments rarely seem to fit the crime. In the case of murderers, they are often far to lenient. Someone who takes the life of another is sentenced to prison where he gets three nutritious meals a day, can exercise and do weight training, often has telly and internet, can have visitors come to see them, has the best healthcare around at no cost to them (because they’re not paying taxes while they’re in jail not working), has free education (high school and college/vocational) and (because he’s a murderer) is typically left alone. Do you know the cost of all these “benefits”? Gone are the days of people losing their rights while they were serving their sentences. Now they practically have more rights then the people who behave.

The shift from “Prisons” and “Penitentiaries” to “Correctional Facilities” has cost the tax payers a ton of money. Sadly, most of the offenders soon become repeat offenders, often evolving into more violent and dangerous individuals. A good many of the more “minor” offenders are often given early release due to over crowding. If the death sentences were carried out a little quicker and the states that didn’t have the death penalty adopted it, it would certainly help to clear out the prisons some.

It sounds absolutely harsh but it’s the logical conclusion. Why pay to support a vile, violent criminal who isn’t the least bit remorseful for the lives (s)he’s destroyed be supported by the tax payers for the rest of his/her natural born days? The only life these people see as valuable is their own. If there is overwhelming forensic evidence that says without a doubt that this person committed first degree murder, they should be sentenced to death and that sentence should be carried out in a more reasonable time. Twenty years on death row is unacceptable.

It’s utterly disgusting to see these people fighting so hard to preserve their own lives when they often didn’t just murder, but raped and or tortured their victims. Ted Bundy did unspeakable things to his victims, as did the Green River Killer. yet when it came to them, all of a sudden life had value.

I think we need to start bringing back the old forms of punishment a bit. Prison shouldn’t be a vacation. When you’re in prison, you lose your rights. You cannot vote, you do not get cable or the internet, you do not get free higher education, you do not get rushed to the hospital over a splinter. (True story as told to me by my cousin, a prison guard. They’d rather risk the expense of an ambulance trip to the emergency room then be sued in a frivolous lawsuit that the criminal will probably win.)

People who callously take the lives of others should pay with their own lives. They should not be allowed to live while their victims are dead and their victim’s families are broken. More over, I don’t think the tax payers should be supporting these criminals indefinitely! That money can go toward something useful like education and children’s programmes. Perhaps the money saved by executing 1st degree murders can be used to prevent another youth from ending up in the criminal justice system.