Capital Punishment a Religious Debate
Capital punishment is defined as the execution of criminals by the state, for committing crimes, regarded as so heinous that it is the only acceptable punishment; But is it acceptable both morally and religiously. In the past, people have invariably felt that if they had been wronged in some way, it was their own right to take it in to his or her own hands and have vengeance on the person that harmed them. The death penalty tie all the way back to biblical times. This mentality still exists today, only in a lesser form we call the judicial system. As a result of the law outlining some persons rights and developing punishments that conform to those rights, and yet allowing the retribution for their crime. However many people today feel that punishments given to criminals for crimes are to lax and easy and that because of this many people may take advantage of them. An example of which is organized crime. Knowing that the punishments for their crime, whether it is murder, theft or any number of criminal activities, will be worth it in the end may cause many to participate in these unlawful acts. Capital punishment creates a consequence that may alter people from committing these unlawful acts. The d
"A moral indictment of the death penalty as a criminal sanction is the inevitability of the intense cruelty it perpetrates on those persons sentenced to be killed. The consequence is the agony of the death row usually keeping the convicted person caged and under the threat of death or anguished of reprieve from one year to more than a decade." (Wahl, pg. 132) While many will say that some people are all bad others will contest that there is some good in every body. While there has been numerous cases of murderers doing there time only to get out and committing the same crime again their are numerous other cases of murderers paying their debts to society and finishing out the rest of their lives as a model citizen. As well as many prisoners who are in for life who turn out to be very useful to the state through the labor prisons. Although with all the safeguards allowed by the law is this enough to prevent the death of an innocent person. The reason for this is that the court system' "being composed of fallible human beings frequently make mistakes." (Wahl pg. 79) While the justice system around the death penalty needs improvement, by no means should we stop punishing criminals for the crimes which they commit. I will begin by telling the story of convicted and executed John Wayne Gacy. Each day on death row, Gacy followed the same routine for fourteen years. Illinois has tried to execute him for these many years and finally did do so on May 10, 1994. (Podolasky, March 94 pg. 72). Gacy was convicted for the murder of thirty-three young men and boys that he had lured to his suburban ranch home, offering them jobs, money and or, drugs. After having sex with them he would drug them and proceed to strangling them or hanging them. Later he would bury the bodies in the crawl space of his home. In all twenty-seven bodies were found decomposing under his bathroom floor, the remainder of which were found in a river near his home. Although Gacy originally confessed later he took back his confession in stating that he was too large to fit into the crawl space. Gacy eluded his execution for fourteen years, during which he filed motions continuously to appeal his conviction (Podolasky, March 94 pg. 72). For the families of Gacy's victims the death was long awaited. In biblical terms an example is God said to Cain, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground" (Gen. 4:10). Justice was to be served quick and painless through lethal injection. Three chemicals were released into his blood stream intravenously. The first would knock him out and the following two would suppress his breathing and stop his heart. This is by far easier than the stoning which would occur in biblical times. The procedure was to take no more than five minutes but due to complications it would take Gacy eighteen minutes. Gacy snorted just before attendants pulled a curtain around him. Gacy had finally been executed...(Seidman, May 94 pg. 52)."Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man" (Gen. 9:5,6). Just as Gacy's victims deaths were avenged as was Able's. Is capital punishment so wrong if God himself was to do it not to compare mere human to God But as the scriptures state we were created by him in his own likeness. Podolsky, J.D. March 16, 1994, Dayof Reckoning, People pg. 71-72 "When there has been brought home to anyone c
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2459
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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