The death penalty is such a controversial subject. I hear people say “I hope he gets the death penalty, He needs to die like my friend, sister, or brother did”, but by looking deeper into what chemicals, and procedures that are used and the body’s reaction and the length of time it takes, is it really the proper choice? Are there other ways beyond “death” that can serve as a better source of punishment, how does our faith contradict the decisions on the matter at hand?
Capital punishment has been around for centuries all across the world with different types of methods which have evolved over time. Government’s sanctioned punishment by death for conviction associated with; murder, rape, Crimes against humanity, and in rare cases drug trafficking, we will cover three of them, Death by Electrocution. Death by lethal gas, And Death by lethal injections.
On August 6th, 1890 in New York, at Auburn Prison, William Kemmler was sentenced to death by Electrocution for murdering his lover with an ax. Once he was strapped in the chair, 700 volts traveled through his body for 17 seconds before the current failed. Smells of burning flesh and clothing were illuminating through the air; he was far from death. Another current of 1,030 volts flowed through his body for 2 minutes; until smoke was seen leaving his head, He was finally pronounced dead after a total of 2 minutes and 17 seconds.
On February 8th, 1924 in Carson City, Nevada, Tong Lee a Chinese gang member was executed by lethal Gas, He was convicted of first-degree murder for slaying a rival gang member. He was sealed up in an airtight chamber, Then Potassium cyanide was dropped into a pan of hydrochloric acid, which then becomes a chemical called hydrocyanic gas. Within minutes, his body failed to produce Hemoglobin. Seconds later he became unconscious and started to choke to death, in passed executions there have been times when others have held their breath and convulsed for a minute before dying.
On December 7th, 1982 in Huntsville, Texas, Charles Brooks Jr. who murdered an auto mechanic was sentenced to death by lethal injection which consists of several types of chemicals; Sodium thiopental, Pancuronium bromide, and lastly potassium chloride. Each chemical has its own special effect on the body and in which is given one right after the other. Death by lethal Gas is still being used in only a few states in America. The most popular form of execution is the Lethal injection, in which in today some of us support this form of punishment while others turn their heads. But more recently there have been a lot of botched executions. Watching TV one night I came a crossed a TV show called” Death Row Stories” Botched Executions. Which is why I am becoming interested in this topic in the first place.
In 2014 four men were executed and during their execution, there were occurrences that should not have taken place. Joseph Wood III suffered one of the world’s longest executions in history; Executioner’s began pumping the lethal drugs into Josephs body at around 1:40 p.m., Joseph gasped 660 times before dying at around 3:45 p.m. which was a total of 2 hours. It was found to have been the cause of the executioner’s failure to properly find a vein. The next execution following Josephs was a man named Michael Wilson.
Michael Wilson’s execution was performed with three drugs including a drug that causes paralysis, During the execution Wilson commented that his body was feeling like it was on fire “burning”. A few months later a new two- drug combination of Midazolam, and hydromorphone. The same drug that was used to kill Joseph. His name was Dennis McGuire. The IV catheter was improperly placed which it caused the drugs to remain inside his muscle tissue, not his bloodstream. His execution lasted for 25 minutes and gasped several times however the cause of death was a heart attack probably due to the excruciating pain he endured.
After doing some intense research on the statics of how many innocent people convicted and sentenced to death was shocking, there is about 1,000 people that has lost their lives due to wrongful convictions since 1976. In most of these criminal cases it was a failure of the jury having listen to the actual evidence, and the lack of DNA evolution. As of today there are thousands of appeals sent out every day, and the sad truth of it is about 90% of those appeals get denied.
The good news is that there have been an increase of legal companies opening up new investigation and gathering the old and new evidence to help figure out whether they actually committed the crime they were convicted of.
After reading about all these horrific deaths caused by non-medical staff who have not been properly trained to even insert an IV, where do you stand on the Death penalty, if you have changed your mind to against it, then also read about the biblical facts on the nature of capital punishment in GOD’s eyes? Which honestly shocked me upon my research.
So “me” thinking about mercy, and forgiveness, you would think that GOD would see the death penalty wrong and an abomination. However, I was wrong. After reading Genesis and also the New Testament, my eyes widened with amazement and I actually had to re-read them a few more times to actually admit to what I was seeing. So in (Genesis: Chapter: 9 verses: 5-6) GOD states “Whose so ever sheddeth the blood of man, by man shall his blood be sheddeth, for GOD created man in his image and likeness. Another place in the Bible he talks about how he gave permission for Governments to enforce the law as they see fit for punishment. He also states the Murder is one of the top Sins.
Even though a brutal murder has taken place I feel that in some cases execution is the easy way out. Some convicted murders want the death penalty because of the fact that they cannot handle life in prison. I feel that serving a life sentence they have time to reflect on their actions, and really take accountability for their actions in ending another human being’s life. However, life in prison is actually in my opinion an easy way of life than living out here in the world. They get clothed, fed, and sheltered for free.
Us as American citizens should not have to pay for people who has not followed and respected the law. We sacrifice our hard earned money, for people who probably haven’t even worked a day in their own lives. I feel that instead of living off the government, or even suffering a harsh death there is another humane way of having them punished indefinitely. I feel that they should be in prison till they take their last breath from natural causes. During their life in prison, they should not have any social interactions.
In prison they get to watch TV, buy food, read write and basically in a sense they still are free. So my thought is why not make the rest of their life miserable. They should have to work as slaves in the prison by cleaning cooking and they should not be allowed to read either. They should not even be allowed to contact their family members. It gives them a sense of hope.
Or better yet maybe instead of us responsible citizen volunteering our lives for our freedom, make the criminal’s go to war, let them be Guinea pigs for science and health research instead of animals. Make them experience the slow agonizing pain and suffering that the victims felt. I just feel that yes they probably do deserve to die, but why make it a quick death; They should live their life and make it as long as possible to have that guilt remain in their minds. Let them understand the feeling of wanting to be set free. But yet God does say a life for a life. But how are we to judge when the government is just as bad as murders and felons. They lie with every political debate during election time. They are what I like to call “legal criminals”.
In addition, it makes me so confused when I hear that the law and judicial system has to respect the rights of inmates and criminals, but my thought is this “When they broke the law by committing a heinous crime such as murder they should have all right revoked. Why should we treat them like a citizen when they basically committed domestic terrorism! I understand that the term is for people who murder more than one person for a belief or other hate reasons against our nation, but I feel that if you kill any American citizen for any reason besides self-defense you should be considered a terrorist, and should be punished not by death but punished by reliving the incident over and over, and also having to work your life away and a box with no windows and never being able to smell the fresh air again nor have any contact with people other than the officer’s doing their rounds.
In conclusion, there is plenty of choices rather than the death penalty but no one wants to take the time to even try to change it. Because since the dawn of time to us death is so naturally thought about, that even when a wrong has been done the easiest and most thought consequence is death, but in reality it should be more thought out and have the murderer suffer and be able to account for his actions. I also think that no one deserves to make the decision whether or not a person actually deserves to die. If anyone is to die it should be from natural causes, not by the hands of men.
(history.com staff, 2010), (TV show Death Row stories)
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