Death_Penalty

McCloud 1 Da’Jonna McCloud Ms.Serls ENC 1101 19 November 2010 Death Penalty (Against It) The power to take human life, perpetuates social injustices by disproportionately targeting people of color and people who cannot afford good attorneys. Therefore, the death penalty should be banned in the United States Capital punishment is not always appropriate, because poor people have to succumb to death penalty as they cannot afford good lawyers to defend their stance. Also, an individual from minority communities are more likely to be given death penalty because in our society today the crime rate is increasing and the minority are more at risk, for the simple reason that minorities homes, schools, and etc are more rundown and have less funding to support each other. Every human being is entitled to receive a second chance in life. Putting a convict behind bars is always a logical option than killing him/her, as there is a chance that he/she may improve. People who have served life sentences are reported to have bettered their earlier ways of living and have made worthwhile contribution to the society. Also, there is a chance that an individual is innocent and is wrongly charged for a crime he/she has never committed. There have been cases where individuals were released after being given death sentences, because they were proved innocent. According to past articles there have been cases where a person’s innocence was proved after he/she McCloud 2 was put to death. Killing a person is not humane, even if the criminal is humane. Some people consider putting a pet asleep is humane if the animal is in great pain, but doing the same thing for a person is often not considered humane, because the person is not in pain to get the death penalty. It sends the wrong message: why kill people who kill people to show killing is wrong. The state is actually using a murder to punish someone who committed a murder; meaning the convict already committed murder so he should just do life in prison, but the state thinks different it seems they feel as though since he committed lets show him how it feels to be murdered. It’s the wrong message. Two wrongs don’t make a right and I feel as though giving someone life in prison is already killing them and 9 times out of 10 they committee suicide anyways. It is barbaric and violates the cruel ad unusual clause in the Bill of Rights. Whether it’s a firing squad, electric chair, gas chamber, lethal injection, or hanging, it’s barbaric to allow the state-sanctioned murder before a crowd of people. Many would interpret the death penalty as violating this restriction. We as a society have to move away from the “eye for an eye” revenge mentality if civilization is to advance, because if people keep living by this saying the world is going to end fast. The “eye for an eye” mentality will never solve anything because all people are doing is just killing themselves. As though a person who has injured another person returns the offending action to the originator in compensation is “eye for an eye” , but people don’t see that killing is not making them look but making the death penalty look awesome and that’s something we need to stop. It need to leads to an endless cycle of violence. Life in prison is a worse punishment and a more effective deterrent because with a McCloud 3 death sentence, the suffering is over in an instant. With life in prison, the pain goes on for decades and prisoners are confined to a cage. They live in an internal environment of rape and violence where they’re treated as animals. Males/females who get the death penalty I’m pretty sure they would like life instead, either way they have to die, but it’s about giving them a second chance instead of just killing them. I know that they make mistakes, I know that they are not perfect, I know that they do things that are not pleasing, yet we have to forgive and let GOD take care of the rest. Only he knows when it’s somebody turn to die not what other people are saying. The possibility exists that innocent men and women may be put to death because they were there at the wrong time. There are several documented cases where DNA testing showed that innocent people were put to death by the government. The world that we live in now the jury don’t care about what criminals have to say, it’s the death penalty with no questions about it. We have an imperfect justice system where poor defendants are given minimal legal attention by often lesser qualified individuals. A lot of people don’t see it now, but it’s going to hurt mostly everybody in the long run. It doesn’t make no sense at all how these innocent people have to be killed because the justice system gave up on them and feel as though they need to learn their lesson. How can a person learn their lesson if they are killed' That’s not teaching them anything. The only thing it’s teaching them if you do wrong to a person the person or somebody else must do wrong to you. This is demented and I feel as though the justice system needs to stop this foolishness. When an innocent person is put to the death penalty no one can feel their pain they can only see it is better to risk saving a guilty man then to condemn an innocent McCloud 4 one. According to William Ellery, “Innocent amusements are such as excite moderately, and such as produce a cheerful frame of mind, not boisterous mirth; such as refresh, instead of exhausting, the system; such as recur frequently, rather than continue long; such as send us back to our daily duties invigorated in body and spirit; such as we can partake of in the presence and society of respectable friends; such as consist with and are favorable to a grateful piety; such as are chastened by self-respect, and are accompanied with the consciousness that life has a higher end than to be amused.” According to Liptak, Adam: There is an article discussing the federal appeals court ruling which allowed Arkansas to medicate Charles Singleton in order to make him eligible for execution. Questions the logic and ethics of whether the state can treat someone for the ultimate purpose of executing him. Mentally ill patients may be put to death because many people are simply born with defects to their brain that cause them to act a certain way. When a person is mentally ill they can’t help the way they act, it’s not their fault that they act the way they do. No amount of drugs, schooling, rehabilitation, or positive reinforcement will change them. Is it fair that someone should be murdered just because they were unlucky enough to be born with a brain defect' I don’t think so. It's very hard to differentiate a mentally ill brain from regular brains. So if the justice system are asking them questions a mentally ill person is going to say any and everything they can because they can only go by what they know if they don’t have no one who can teach them the right ropes of life. These are some major reports that happened to the people who were mentally ill with the death penalty. Amnesty International wrote: In-depth report on United States' executions of the McCloud 5 mentally ill. Includes definitions of terminology, explanations of common and relevant mental conditions, primary-source quotations, current national and international statistics, and recommendations by an American Bar Association task force. The report finds and provides startling new information such as that 5-10% of today's Death Row inmates suffer from serious mental illness; it also draws unique connections between certain states' mental health funding and execution rates. Another report from Drew, Kevin says: Article in response to the 2004 execution of paranoid schizophrenic Charles Singleton, whose competency was controversially restored by medication, thus rendering him eligible for execution. Malone, Dan states in his magazine that; in light of recent legislation barring executions of juvenile or mentally retarded inmates, similar policies must be applied to the mentally ill, at least in cases where the actions and thought-processes of a mentally ill defendant resemble those of a juvenile or one who is mentally retarded. Includes responses to arguments which claim that current laws are sufficient for protection of the mentally ill. Concludes that "A society that denies mental health care to those who need it the most and then subsequently executes them is cruel and inhumane at its very core.” Mansnerus, Laura states: Notes an inverse relationship between the "grisliness" of a crime and the mental health of its perpetrator. Also cites research showing the frequency of head and brain trauma among Death Row inmates. Explains that many inmates minimize or deny their psychiatric conditions during trial, "figuring that it [is] better to be bad than crazy." I even have case summaries of the mentally ill who died from death penalty. McCloud 6 Amnesty International. "James Colburn: mentally ill man scheduled for execution in Texas." 16 Oct. 2002. Amnesty International. "'Where is the compassion'': The imminent execution of Scott Panetti, mentally ill offender." 2004. Amnesty International. "Another Texas injustice: The case of Kelsey Patterson, mentally ill man facing execution." 18 Mar. 2004. Amnesty International. "Time for humanitarian intervention: The imminent execution of Larry Robison." 1999. Stone, Alan A., M.D. "Condemned Prisoner Treated and Executed." Psychiatric Times. Mar. 2004. McCloud 7 Works Cited - Amnesty International. “ The execution of mentally ill offenders.” 31 Jan. 2006 - Drew, Kevin. “Executed mentally ill inmate heard voices until end.” CNN. 6 Jan. 2004 - Malone, Dan. “Cruel and Inhumane: Executing the Mentally ill.” Amnesty Magazine. Fall 2005 - Mansnerus, Laura. “ Damaged Brains and the Death Penalty.” New York Times. 21 July 2001 - Liptak, Adam. “ State Can Make Inmate Sane Enough to Execute.” 11 Feb. 2003