Last Friday, my friend and I watched a Japanese movie called "Death Note". It was a great movie, based on an anime show. It centers around different ideas and theories about what is considered a good punishment for criminals, murderers, and rapists. This movie got me thinking about the death penalty and imprisonment, and if it's really the best way to punish someone.
Think about it. Maybe you know someone who has been in jail for any period of time. I know I do. They did something bad, and they got punished for it. The only problem is the punishment did not teach them anything. They went right on ahead doing the same stuff. Being sent to jail isn't exactly a bad punishment. For a lot of people, jail is much better than the outside world. You even get free food. A punishment is supposed to show you that you did something wrong, and to teach you not to do it again. This is one place where the justice system fails. The majority of people sent to jail do NOT learn anything.
The death penalty is the same concept. Sure, it's a good way to simply get rid of dangerous people. But it's not a punishment! For one thing, most murderers are probably so messed up, death is a welcome solution to their problems. And the way they are killed is virtually painless, they never have to experience the agony their victims went through.
I think that if we really wanted to, we could change the system in a way that helps these people, rather than just gets rid of them for a while. Perhaps some creative methods of showing these criminals how their actions were wrong, and somehow giving them a new chance at a better life. It would be expensive, and extremely difficult. But maybe in the future, we will be able to really help these people instead of just shoving them aside.
Note: this is just my opinion. What do you think? Do you have any ideas for how we could deal with criminals better? Do you support the death penalty, or are you against it? Why? Share what you think!
If you're really interested in the topic of prison reform, I would reccomend Michel Foucault's Discipline & Punish. It's a fascinating read about how justice systems of Western Europe and the United States evolved.
Unless we can somehow create an absolutely infallible justice system, I am vehemently opposed to capital punishment. Until then, there is no guarantee that innocent people are not being put to death for crimes they did not commit.
I agree that the prison system in this country is woefully inadequate at reforming criminals, and non-violent criminals who are sent to jail often commit violent crimes upon release. Think about it - how would you change after being locked in a closet sized room with someone who has serious issues and quite possibly wants to kill you? Unfortunately, prison reform is expensive and with our economy in crisis, I doubt it's an issue that will be addressed very soon.
I completely agree with you in that the death penalty is not as much of a punishment as a life in jail is, and that releasing prisoners immediately into the real world is not safe for the general public. However, about the death penalty, what if the goal is not to punish but rather to protect society from dangerous people? Also, killing innocent people is understandably a risk, but according to http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/Innocence.htm, we haven't run into that problem yet. And about releasing prisoners from jail, do prisoners go through a treatment between jail and return to real life? I don't know the details, but perhaps the government could help them restart their lives? I know that putting them in jail is like putting a child in a time-out, so at least it gives them a chance to cool down before they go back to real life. It also goes on their record, so they have trouble living normally afterwards, which is a punishment if jail itself isn't.
I don't know anyone who's been in jail except for a woman who was jailed for killing a man by drunk driving, so I don't know how it affects them. Still, I like knowing that people who disobey laws are taken out of society for a bit.
The website you are relying on as proof that no innocent people have ever been executed is called PRO DEATH PENALTY. Do you think there might be a little bias there? Look into some studies by less biased sources. I don't know what those studies will say, and I don't know much about this topic, so I'm not arguing with your point, but I am saying that I don't trust your point because of your biased source
An interesting book you might like to read is The Innocent Man by John Grisham. It's a true story. He approached it like investigative journalism, and it is very unlike his other books. When I read the story, which is about a man on death row who was convicted in spite of really shoddy police work and no evidence, I thought, "There are so many people out there who aren't lucky enough to get a really GOOD legal team to investigate their final appeal. There must be a few who were wrongly executed." I also thought that he might have actually been better off if he had been executed after he spent 20 some years on death row. He was ruined by it. It's the saddest story ever. You'll be really outraged by it.
"Never go with a hippy to a second location."
~Jack Donaghy
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
I have no quotable resource to back me up right yet because I read this a long time ago and can't remember off the top of my head where I read it from... but;
You say "we haven't run into that problem yet." Which is where I disagree with you. There's a reason that those states that continue to use the death penalty have such restrictions as 15-20 years for appeals and the like. And according to a survey I read last year, we have put innocent people to death via the death penalty, but it happens so rarely (I think it said like 1 in 10,000...) that most people view it as an "acceptable risk".
I, personally, am all for the death penalty - get these asses out of my face and off our streets. I don't think it's as much a "punishment" as it is a detterent and a clean-up crew.
Now - if we wanted to turn it into a punishment... then let's cart the fucker who raped little girls down the street in the back of a flat-bed truck while we throw tomatoes at him on the way to a hanging.
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"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence
This would have looked a lot better with statistics, and would have made your points a lot more interesting. The issue I see with jail is that the institution isn't allowed to adjust the inmates mentality. They put the criminal in a hostile environment, and expect them to be renewed, and reformed, which sounds absolutely illogical. Isolation or solitary confinement I think is an effective treatment when it comes to imprisonment. Of course this would have to be regulated, and a prisoner shouldn't have to be deprived completely of social interaction, but so much time alone seems an effective treatment. Prison needs reformation, and needs to be a rehabilitation institution opposed to solely being a deterrence system. I just don't understand the point of putting a criminal in an environment they came from, it doesn't seem logical.
Anyway, moving on to the death penalty. I'm pro-death penalty, due to it's deterrence factor, and I think it's a punishment. Humans instinct pushes us to survive, and knowing that your life will be taken away is not comforting. Think of it on a large scale, opposed to thinking of a person a just a person who committed a crime, think about the small details of the person's life. Their family, friends, acquaintances, hobbies, joys of life, whatever. Knowing that will be taken away has to be tough, and it seems illogical to say that anyone will be happy about that.
You argument that
is very flawed. That's a very big generalization that all people who murder are insane. You pretty much dehumanize a murderer, making them less like what you perceive "normal" people to be. But as many cases have shown, everyday people are killers, and can be very normal. Take John Wayne Gacy for example. He murdered 33 boys, and hid them in the crawlspace below his floor, while at the same time being a business man, and an active member in the political community. I believe strongly, and as a whole, the death penalty is a punishment, and have disagree with you and the crowd who claim the death penalty is the easy way out.
Next, I agree that jail should help people start better lives as I stated early. However arguing that it will be expensive doesn't make much sense either. Even as you said, people are often recidivous, or repeat offenders. So it seems sensible that turning prison into a rehabilitative institution, where the recidivism will most likely decline, it would be cheaper because it's effective, and actually serving a purpose.
Part of the problem is people think of prison as somewhere where people should go and suffer, not get better. Most of the time when you hear about a murderer, one thinks "send them to jail, and let them suffer and rot," not "send them to jail to get better." A lot of the problem lies in society, which is unfortunate.