My Favorite things about Angelfire.
My Favorite Web Sites
Angelfire - Free Home Pages
Free Web Building Help
Angelfire HTML Library
HTML Gear - free polls, guestbooks, and more!
Uniza, Ara-Danielle English, Period 1 March 1, 2004
Capital Punishment, Where is the Justice?
For decades, the idea of capital punishment has sparked controversy amongst many. Many people have conflicting ideas on the idea of sentencing a man to death for his wrongdoings. Is it right for the government to have the power to end a man’s life in the palm of their hands? If you’re answer is ‘yes’, then you need to think to yourself, “What is justice?” Justice, as defined in the dictionary, means to make things just or fair. Would it be fair to kill a person, because they killed another? If this was the logic behind the concept of capital punishment, then it is safe to conclude that they abide by the principle, “an eye for an eye.” Then, what ever happened to forgiveness? People argue that it’s a way that the government can show to the public eye, that the law is being enforced. But, isn’t there another way to show punishment? Sentencing people to death penalty is a cruel and inhuman act, which is justified by the human mind as a form of justice turning it from wrong to right. The judiciary system in itself is flawed and corrupted; according to statistics some of their judgments are biased and discriminative of race, therefore making them imperfect. Since, the government, like the rest of the world, is imperfect, what gives them the right to play God and decide who should live and who should die and when they should?
Capital punishment, or sentencing someone to death, is both wrong and contradictory to its own purpose. The death penalty is served in order to implement justice, but what kind of justice is it to kill another for committing a murder? As the famous saying goes, “Two wrongs will never make a right.” Not only that, but in the Bible it clearly states, “thou shall not commit murder.” If the government is trying to show that the law is enforced in order to keep people in place, and make sure they do what is right then, they should, first and foremost, be the ones to set the example and follow the Ten Commandments. But, by supporting capital punishment, they are showing the people that’s it’s okay to bend the laws.
The government constantly feels like they need to show harsh acts of discipline in order to keep the people in place. Some people think capital punishment is a good way to keep you out of trouble. But is this the only type of punishment? Wouldn’t it be more of a punishment to live the rest of your life in prison, so that everyday you are reminded of your mistake, rather than just killing them and letting them rest in peace? Also, even without physical punishment, criminals have to live with their conscience for the rest of their lives, constantly reminding them, and engulfing them in the misery of what they committed.
It’s not only the wrong type of implementation that makes capitol punishment so foul, but also the fact that the government is biased. If the government is biased this would mean that their decisions will not always be accurate and most likely to be a bit unfair. The statistics show that even though people of color are prominently far less in number than that of the majority, they still rank high in the percentage of execution at 34%, while the majority is 54%.
Slavery has been abolished many years ago, but its idea that people with darker skin are inferior to that of lighter color still taints the world we live in today. It may not be as obvious as it was before, but nevertheless, it still exists. This explains why the government is so much harsher in punishing colored people, in contrast to white people. The corruption in the judiciary systems itself, proves them unworthy of such a delicate decision.
Another reason behind capital punishment is the idea of getting revenge. All people want revenge when something wrong has been done to them; it is in the human nature. But, it is also true that revenge can only be fully felt when done with your own hands. What kind of revenge is it to just be told that the person was executed and that your sufferings have been justified? Also, by killing the person who did you wrong, it still wouldn’t bring back the past, and turn everything back to normal. What’s lost is lost, and it’ll never come back, but instead, you’ve just added another loss to the opposing family, who like yourself, didn’t deserve to loose a loved one.
Since we live in an imperfect world, it is wrong for the government to get favored, and is allowed to commit the perfect crime, to kill and not get punished for it. I strongly believe that delicate decisions about life and death should only be up to God. After all, we are all just human, made equally under the eyes of God. No one is better than the other, so who was given the permission to decide the fate of another man? Regardless of the fact that they did something wrong, it is still not up to man alone to prosecute them in such a way, like death. If they need to be punished then we can leave that to God, he created us, therefore, he can just as easily destroy us. We were put on this world to SERVE God, not BE him.
