Unusual_Punishment

The death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. I believe that humans have no right what so ever to choose whether or not someone is to be put to death no matter what the crime is. I believe we have a sovereign God that gives and takes our breath away and will have vengeance how he sees fit. We do not always have the right person for the crime and many innocent people have been exonerated from being punished for crimes they did not commit. I see if the person was just incarcerated you can do your best to give them back their life if you have killed them you cannot fix that mistake. For instance some individuals do reform like Stanley Tookie Williams who was put to death in December of 2005. This man was changed he took to writing books was even nominated to receive the Nobel Peace Prize and Nobel Literature Prize. I see that a man of this character and the complete turnaround could have benefited society. He focused on keeping children out of the gangs and promoted peace (About, 2010). But, they did not give this man a chance to prove he was reformed and rehabilitated and he claimed his innocence till the end. The death penalty in my opinion does not deter crime. There are several questions that helped me render my answer. The first one is does the death penalty make society feel safer' Does the death penalty reduce the crime rate' The answer is no to both of them. Maybe, if they took away the television sets, air conditioner, weights and sports this might show deterrence. The correctional institutions should not be made a facility of comfort. The inmates are allowed to have visiting with guests where they can touch, talk and eat in courtyards every weekend or every other weekend. I do not agree with providing such a relaxing environment makes the punishment arduous. The punishment should not be easy by any means. Who would want to commit crimes where there is no ac, televisions, contact visits or even weight lifting' If we re-evaluate the prisons and make it harder for criminals to do time and take away privileges we might actually see crimes dissipating. This would at least have some criminals think before committing a crime. I do not see that the criminal justice system has applied the death penalty fairly. The most common reason would be unethical. Can the criminal justice system apply the death penalty fairly when they are killing innocent people' I do not believe the death penalty is applied fairly by any means. What I see as the most reasonable alternative for heinous crimes is prison. If the person is a juvenile I believe extensive counseling and a house arrest program or probation. I do not believe introducing them into the prison system will be effective. Juvenile’s crimes start from an area in their life that they have been exposed to which could be drugs, abuse being mental or physical or just not having parental supervision. I agree that every child except the mentally ill can be rehabilitated. A child should not be punished by death this could do more harm than good. The initial start would be to try and prevent juvenile crime through establishing programs that would keep children focused on activities. This may not have a positive effect on all juveniles but reaching some is better than none. As I have previously mentioned extensive counseling would work digging to the root of the problem could help. There are also some children that need an adult to believe in them and listening to what they have to say is important. I find that community programs, recreational activities, interaction with families and rewards of some sort could help keep juvenile crime at a minimum. About (2010) Retrieved on August 17, 2010 fromhttp://usliberals.about.com/od/deathpenalty/a/StanleyTookieWilliams.htm