by Emalee Mounts

Created on: January 27, 2009

In the eighth amendment of the US constitution it states: "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." In what way is death not a "cruel and unusual punishment"?

Yes, I agree that child molesters, abusers, as well as murders of all sorts deserve great punishments. The difference between a punishment and the death sentence is that two wrongs do not make a right! Why can the government decide when someone's life should end? They for one are NOT all knowing and are not in any matter innocent.

If the government can declare that our country is "at war" and send thousands of our men and women overseas to kill innocent women and children for over seven years now why aren't they issued the death penalty? They have done the same thing as these accused killers have they not?

Everyone deserves a second chance. Whether they have committed a crime or not. No, I do not think that murderers and such should be let go free of punishment. But, let them rot in prison. Don't give them an easy way out by taking their life so that they do not have to live with the guilt of the violent act that they committed. The family of the victim has to live with that knowledge for the rest of their lives, why shouldn't the murderer have to live with that?

If this isn't good enough to convince you that the death penalty is not an effective punishment in our society then think about the hundreds of innocent people who have been killed because of a mistake of the courts? There have been hundreds of people who have sworn their innocence up until their last minutes on our planet. Why would they swear their innocence at this point unless they really were innocent.

Still not enough? Then think of all the women who have been put to death over crimes. These women have children in the world that are now motherless because of the one mistake that they made. Many of these children will have to be put into foster care and most likely never into a permanent home. Let's not sugar coat things; everyone knows that the foster care in the US is not the best attribute of the country we all know and love. Many foster kids are neglected, abused, and treated very unfairly.

Imagine this. You have three little children. You tuck them into bed and read them their bed time story. You go to the kitchen to get a late night cup of coffee and see a man staring into your window. You run to your room and grab your husbands gun. By this time the perpetrator is inside your house. You take the loaded gun and shoot him right in the head. That's self-defense right? Wrong. You're convicted and sentenced to the death penalty. You're three young children live their childhoods out under someone else's roof as property of the great United States of America.

Now, next time you see a "murderer" on the news and you have the urge to shout obscenities at them, think of this and wonder if maybe their was a reason for their actions.

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