- Can capital punishment carried out humanely?
Is the question many ask about the death penalty. In the case study of Kenny Richey, convicted for the murder of a two-year old girl and his ex-girlfriend and for burning her flat, he was kept on death row for twenty years before he was executed. This is horrible, as he would have had the execution looming over him for twenty years and the fact that twice he came within hours of being executed having said all of his goodbyes and getting a reprieve. Imagine you’ve been sentenced to death and had to wait twenty years with it dominating your whole life. It is mental torture. People say torture is inhumane that is practically torture as well. In the case of Timothy McVeigh he was under anaesthetic when they administered the fatal injection so that he felt nothing, this is a fairly humane way to go. Apart from the fact that there were hundred’s of friends and family of the people he killed watching on a closed circuit television which no doubt people would have been able to hack into. This is very inhumane having hundred’s of people watching him die and then saying afterwards that they got nothing out of it, no closure, no joy at knowing he was dead.
- Should life imprisonment mean life?
According to the state there are several criteria one has to fulfil to be sentenced for full life imprisonment:
- Multiple murders
- Sadistic/sexual motive
- Abduction
- Premeditated
When Ian Huntley murdered Holly and Jessica he was sentenced to 40+ years in prison, not life he only definitely fulfilled 2 of the 4 criteria. So he only received 2 life terms (20 years parole at 15 possibly).
- What do you think?
- Do you think he should have been life imprisoned?
Myra Hindley aka Moors murderer 1 was given a life along with her accomplice Ian Brady. They murdered 4 children between 1963 and 1964. The body of Keith Bennet, 12, has never been found. She has now died in prison due to a chest infection at the age of 60. Those murders fulfilled all of the criteria so they were give the full life sentenced. However Huntley only enticed the girls into his home so he did not fulfil the abduction criteria as for sadistic/sexual motive we don’t know and we may never know.
- Is capital Punishment the easy way out?
Capital punishment can be seen as an easy out. An easy way to stop the impending prison overcrowding crisis, a way to make it look like the government is doing something and not just banging them up and forgetting about them. In the case of Timothy McVeigh he was extremely willing to die for his cause and was so ready when the time came. Therefore it would be more of a punishment to keep him locked up rather than execute him. Myra Hindley said she would rather have died than spent life imprisoned. This therefore shows that a life sentence is more of a punishment than being executed.
- Can miscarriages of Justice be avoided?
Derek Bentley, 19 year old who was sentenced to death in the 50’s when he was innocent of murder. That was an innocent life lost by capital punishment, now if he had been imprisoned there would have been the opportunity to have sorted it out and have his name cleared. Kenny Richey’s appeal case is still in the court of appeals and had he been in prison he would have been alive to see his name cleared and have been released. Therefore with capital punishment there is no way to undo a miscarriage of justice whereas there is with a life sentence.
Capital punishment is morally wrong and totally inexcusable. Being a Christian I am likely to say that as it is one of the Ten Commandments. However even as not a Christian it is still a violation of human rights as amnesty international say ‘It violates the right to life’.
