Miltiades
Member
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2007
- Messages
- 20
Lately there has been some controversy over whether we should use the death penalty less or even not at all. Some view it as inhumane as it ceases the life of a fellow human being. Others say while they do not wish to kill, sometimes it is necessary, as the one sentenced is just too dangerous to be kept alive. Both have good points, but which should we imply? And which is more humane in the long run, to sentence one to death and end their life in a matter of seconds, or sentence them to life imprisonment where they rot in a cell over how many years. Shouldn’t ending their life quickly actually be more humane then? Then again, isn’t it better to live in misery than not to live at all?
First I will talk about life imprisonment. This is often thought of this most decent way to keep a dangerous person out of society, as they remain alive yet unable to commit crime while in jail. But what can they “live?” When we think of “alive” we commonly associate it with living and having life. But when it comes to humans simply having life doesn’t mean we are “alive.” When we are creative, hold love, want, sadness, and joy, THEN we are truly alive. A felon in jail can’t exactly do all of these things as he is restrained from the world except for his fellow prisoners and the news. They can’t be as creative, and loving as the rest of the world because they weren’t loving (not always the case though) to begin with (thus leading to jail) and being locked up doesn’t help that. So when we order life imprisonment do we truly keep them “alive?” Of course death sentence doesn’t do anything different and it kills them almost totally (only spirit remains if you believe such things). So we should take life imprisonment as it is, not as it is propagandized-the most decent thing we can do. We can do many other decent things instead of life imprisonment to the criminals, but those wouldn’t solve the problem of the felony. There is a not so popular argument by some supporters of the death penalty that says if we are going to kill the convicts over time why not do it now as it saves time, money, and resources. Sadly, what it DOESN’T save is lives, however small and unworthy they are. Another argument is that because of the increasing US population in prisons, the death penalty reduces this. This is not so correct. Those sentenced to death make up a very small portion of the US criminals, so it wouldn’t reduce the population in jail very much.
Now for the death penalty portion. It is said that this spares a felon of years of suffering and rotting in a cell. Again, shouldn’t it be better to live locked up than to not live period? Execution axes the possibility that a criminal escape should he continue to do crime. It also ends the possibility that the “criminal” will be set free due to later evidence that he/she is actually innocent. This is unlikely but it can happen if the person is lucky enough! Killing a criminal also kills a resource. If a later crime appears and the executed person is a witness or he knew information, etc, we can’t use him because he is, well, dead.
Both forms are execution I think, one just ends it faster than the other does. Its up to America to decide now.
First I will talk about life imprisonment. This is often thought of this most decent way to keep a dangerous person out of society, as they remain alive yet unable to commit crime while in jail. But what can they “live?” When we think of “alive” we commonly associate it with living and having life. But when it comes to humans simply having life doesn’t mean we are “alive.” When we are creative, hold love, want, sadness, and joy, THEN we are truly alive. A felon in jail can’t exactly do all of these things as he is restrained from the world except for his fellow prisoners and the news. They can’t be as creative, and loving as the rest of the world because they weren’t loving (not always the case though) to begin with (thus leading to jail) and being locked up doesn’t help that. So when we order life imprisonment do we truly keep them “alive?” Of course death sentence doesn’t do anything different and it kills them almost totally (only spirit remains if you believe such things). So we should take life imprisonment as it is, not as it is propagandized-the most decent thing we can do. We can do many other decent things instead of life imprisonment to the criminals, but those wouldn’t solve the problem of the felony. There is a not so popular argument by some supporters of the death penalty that says if we are going to kill the convicts over time why not do it now as it saves time, money, and resources. Sadly, what it DOESN’T save is lives, however small and unworthy they are. Another argument is that because of the increasing US population in prisons, the death penalty reduces this. This is not so correct. Those sentenced to death make up a very small portion of the US criminals, so it wouldn’t reduce the population in jail very much.
Now for the death penalty portion. It is said that this spares a felon of years of suffering and rotting in a cell. Again, shouldn’t it be better to live locked up than to not live period? Execution axes the possibility that a criminal escape should he continue to do crime. It also ends the possibility that the “criminal” will be set free due to later evidence that he/she is actually innocent. This is unlikely but it can happen if the person is lucky enough! Killing a criminal also kills a resource. If a later crime appears and the executed person is a witness or he knew information, etc, we can’t use him because he is, well, dead.
Both forms are execution I think, one just ends it faster than the other does. Its up to America to decide now.