Youth in Asia
(Euthanasia)
Is Capital Punishment Beneficial?
Grace and Dorothy
Many people think that the death penalty is immoral and costly, but it can actually be more beneficial for citizens and create a better society for them to live in.
Usually, capital punishment is utilized as a punishment for murder, but there are actually many other reasons that call for a death sentence. There have been recorded cases of child rape, espionage, aggravated kidnapping, and drug trafficking that resulted in capital punishment. We can prevent more crimes like these if we follow the death penalty act. It could also save time by avoiding unnecessary rearrests and court time.
Many believe that the death penalty deprives the inmates of their chance of changing for the better; however, recidivism, or relapse into criminal behavior, is quite common among criminals. According to the National Institute of Justice, 71.3% of violent crime offenders and 76.9% of drug offenders are likely to be rearrested. By implementing capital punishment, we can reduce the numbers of repeat offenders and thus lower crime rates.
Ironically, some inmates are put on death row for murdering their fellow prison mates. This shows that some inmates’ mindset and behavior cannot be fixed with extended prison durations. If the death row inmates were executed for their crimes, there would be no chance of recidivism in their cases. They would not be able to commit any more of their detestable crimes. If we are able to prevent crime, why do we not do it?
Many people question the justice in killing a killer, but there are many different types of killing. A murderer kills for his own purposes and with evil intention. Executions are carried out to show a consequence while providing a safer community for people to live in.
When people compare costs between housing inmates not on death row and death row inmates, they see that more money is spent on death row inmates. According to Washington Post, on average, it costs around $40,000 per year to keep an inmate in prison. The Death Penalty Information Center states that it costs $90,000 more per year to support an inmate on death row. The costs of the cases for death row inmates are also noticeably higher than those of the inmates who are not on death row because lawyers, judges, and other people spend more time preparing and reviewing for cases with lives at stake.
However, if the death row inmates were executed without delay after sentence, our taxes would not go to waste on supporting criminals if we speed up the appeal process. We can instead use the money on national issues troubling us today.
In California alone, there are 746 death row inmates, but California has not had a single execution since 2006. Therefore, California is losing money by giving the death sentence, but not acting upon it. Why is it so difficult to spend $86.08 on each injection when California is actually spending millions of invaluable dollars on those already sentenced to death? These cases are
In addition, some people worry about the possibility of an innocent person being given capital punishment through false evidence, false accusations, and/or faulty lawyers. However, since 1976, only about 1% of death row inmates have been found innocent of their crimes with strong evidence.
Also, death row inmates actually have the opportunity to prepare for their death in various ways. They can write a will, prepare last statements, and ready themselves mentally. This is very significant because many people do not have these opportunities. However, they are punished in prison by being confined in solitary confinement and not having the freedom that other prisoners would have.
In every human’s life, death is inevitable. Sometimes, sacrifices must be made for the good of society as a whole. One death could prevent many and we need to think of the greater good. In war, millions of innocent citizens are murdered. On the other hand, these death row inmates are guilty of horrendous crimes. People cannot think of death row inmates as helpless people because they chose to commit their crimes worthy of death.
People have many misconceptions about capital punishment, but there are actually numerous positive outcomes of implementing the death sentence. It provides as an example, prevents governments from falling, and can save much-needed money. Capital punishment brings the possibility of greatly reducing crime rates, thus providing future generations with a safer place to grow up in. China has ⅕ the murder rates and Iran has ½ the murder rates of the United States. They both have higher execution numbers in the last five years than the United States. This shows that carrying out capital punishment will have a positive impact. Death row inmates are still treated fairly enough towards the end of their lives, and it is more than a deserving end for those who committed heinous crimes. In the end, justice must be served, and if someone has committed a violent or detrimental crime, that justice may include the death penalty.
The Carr Brothers
Mark Kim & Joyce Kim
The Carr brothers are known for bringing great devastation to hundreds of families. They have committed 113 counts of murder, robbery, rape and other crimes and misdemeanors, the most recent of which occurred 15 years ago when, on December 7, 2000, Reginald and Jonathan Carr murdered 5 people, and severely injured another in Wichita, Kansas.
The early lives of Reginald and Jonathan Carr were extremely harsh. Their mother and father would often argue and become violent with one another. As a result, the two parents divorced and the mother abandoned the two brothers, tearing apart the family. Janice Harding became the new mother figure in the family as she married their father. However, the divorce did not solve the family’s violent tendencies. In fact, the household became so violent that at one point, the father aimed a gun at the Harding’s head. This traumatized the Carr brothers, and their family’s a negative influence took a massive toll on Reginald and Jonathon’s future.
At school, Reginald had poor grades and occasionally initiated fights with other students, while Jonathon dabbled frequently in sex and drugs. Reginald’s early adult life was punctuated by a lengthy arrest record and failing marriages.
Apart from their less than fortunate upbringing, psychologists also theorize that convicts of such major crimes like that of murder often times behave in unthinkable ways out of fear of rejection from their society, hence leading to such heinous actions.
At the start of their killing spree, The Carr brothers allegedly kidnapped a 23-year old man from a convenience store and robbed him. According to prosecutors, several days later, the Carrs also shot a female outside her home, leading to her death several days later due to her severe injuries.
A week later on December 14, Reginald and Jonathan broke into the dwelling of three young men who were hosting two female guests. That night, prosecutors believe that the Carrs drove the party to a deserted soccer field, and then forced them to kneel in the freezing snow. They then shot each of them in the back of their heads before finishing them off by running over their limp bodies with a truck.
Fortunately, one female survivor escaped and ran naked in the cold for miles in search of help. When she arrived at the nearest house, she testified to have dodged the bullet thanks to a plastic hair clip that deflected the projectile and prevented a severe injury to the skull. She later identified the intruders as Jonathon and Reginald Carr.
Following this incident, Jonathan and Reginald were charged with capital murder, with the possibility of facing the death penalty. Families affected by the “Wichita Horrors” were outraged by the Carrs’ treacherous actions and demanded lethal injection. The trial lasted five weeks.
Amy Scott James, the girlfriend of one of the victims, Brad Heyka, expressed, “We were very offended just at how they conducted themselves…they were very arrogant and very rude at how they treated the people who presented.” as she sat through the Carrs’ death-penalty appeal hearing before the Kansas Supreme Court in December of 2014.
The Carr brothers make a strong case for the use of the death penalty. Their crimes were heinous, hurt many people, were of a particularly gruesome nature, and were merely the last of a long string of increasingly bad crimes. If that weren’t enough, the cost of keeping these two hardened criminals incarcerated would far outweigh the cost of executing them; the Carrs had taken enough from society. They don’t need to take away from our government’s treasury too.
Some individuals believe that the death penalty is inhumane and gruesome, and although these people may claim such actions may eliminate the future potential for these death row inmates to improve, the progress of these outlaws cannot be guaranteed, as the Carr brothers clearly prove.
Death to Evil
Jonathan and Austin
On August 30th, 2001 Dustin Lee Honken and Angela Johnson killed five people to protect their methamphetamine project in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa. The two partners were charged for killing two federal drug informants, two children, and one citizen, and were sent to death row on October 11th, 2005. Because Honken and Johnson killed more than one person, the death penalty was correctly sentenced because they are guilty of murder and drug distribution. They had lured the people out of their homes and were posing as lost salesman, when Honken had pulled the trigger to kill the five people.
Those who do wrong more than once definitely deserve to be sent to death row. The continuation of such capitalistic punishment would prevent any more suffering from violent criminals such as Honken and Johnson. If they were to plead innocent or serve a sentence less than life, then they could have continued to break the law and potentially hurt more innocent people. Imagine if they were to stay out or if they would be released back into the world, people like them would start to rebel against the government for unfairness, which would probably cause mayhem against death row. The death penalty was a good option for Johnson and Honken, as they created a large amount of trouble, pain, and loss for innocent families.
If the death penalty were to be abolished, not only would the communities feel less safe, but also the people of the country, as threats such as vengeful premeditated murder may be aimed at the families of the victim. The most dangerous types of people in the world are those who have nothing to lose, the people who may be released from death row, should it be abolished, may go all out on crime sprees being punished only by being kept in prison and having a small chance to be released or escape. According to the Washington Post, in New York, there are approximately one out of two thousand prison escapes per year.
People like Honken and Johnson should be given the death penalty, since lethal injections or the electric chair is the most humane way to be executed. The electric chair is humane due to the instant death that it provides; contrary to the popular belief that, the muscle spasms are only the body reacting to the electricity that is running through the body. The execution process is painless and quick enough for the people to be put to rest, so why shouldn't the death penalty be legal for those who have done far worse to their victims? People may say that it costs more to put people on death row, but it costs up to a hundred thousand dollars to incarcerate for one year, which is usually when they are executed, compared to prison, which, if they were to be sentenced to life, would cost fifty thousand dollars per year for up to twenty to thirty years for the person to pass.
Keeping the death penalty is humane for the prisons because it provides a quick death for the inmates who have commited serious crimes. It is very reasonable to continue it because since not all of the jails have it, the guards sometimes beat the inmates very badly. Would you rather have a quick death or die slowly? It may sound inhumane, but it is a better choice for the inmates. Not only will they gain physical pain, but also mental trauma as the families of the victim would come to threaten the inmate. Do not forget, the inmate may have done something wrong, but they still are human and have limitations. Many people may disagree as they believe in revenge for loss and suffering, but that would just be hypocritical against themselves as they are bloodthirsty to kill a killer. According to deathpenaltyinfo.org, the execution of the narcotic shot is used to overdose the patient with potassium chloride while they are sleeping.
