Calling all “respectable citizens…”
This week’s article (and video) is quite interesting. The State of Arkansas is attempting to compete with my home state (Texas) by excuting 8 death row inmates within a very short time-span. They’ve run into a problem, however, as state law requires that 6 “upstanding individuals” witness the execution process. Interesting. I wonder how many of you would attend this affair. Thoughts?
I would not be one of the citizens attending the executions. I am undecided about the death penalty. I get it when people say that they are just wasting tax money having them sit in prison so they should be executed, but it is also cost an insane amount of money to execute them too. Executing them is not going to change the fact that the crime happened or bring anyone back. Having the offenders sit in prison is punishment, their life is taken away from them.
After reading this article I looked up more information about the offenders that are going to be executed, and one of them actually escaped from prison and killed someone and stole their truck when he got out. This makes me think, if he would have been executed that person he killed would still be alive.
I for one think that televised executions are just sick. There is no need for it to be on tv. I think execution is most beneficial for those that were affected and that they should be able to watch if they want to.
I have always been someone who is a strong believer against the death penalty. I think it is morally wrong to kill someone for their wrongdoing, because that is not punishment it is just getting rid of the problem. Executing the criminal is not going to change the fact of their crimes. It is just allowing the criminal to die without thinking about their crimes.
Therefore, when looking at Arkansas death penalty rules of having six “upstanding citizens” watch the execution to make sure things run smoothly- I think is ridiculous. No one should have to be forced to watch someone be executed. It is morbid and not healthy for the mind. Also, I think that playing the executions on TV is even worse. Anyone who has access to a TV can be watching the execution- including children. It is bad enough that there is so much violence on TV nowadays, that playing an actual execution is just absurd.
A couple things I found shocking about the video and the article is that the US was still giving the death penalty to minors up until 2005 which seems like a crazy things to me. Also the idea of televising death penalties seems even crazier. I understand and also agree that having witnesses at the even is a good idea to prevent it from being done the wrong way but I think televising it is a very bad idea for many reasons. I don’t think I would want to attend this event at all. I think it would be hard to watch no matter what the crime was that they committed or what type of person they are. Their life is ending and it would be right in front of me.
I think this article points out many good points to the argument against the death penalty.
I have always been on the fence in regards to the death penalty; and I believe I still am. However, that is besides the point.
After reading this article, I think that making executions public is rather similar to the barbaric way our society used to be in traditional times. The original way to deter crime was through fear, as it still is today. However, as we have learned, this actually is ineffective. I do not believe that making executions public will do any good, as opposed to the author’s opinion, as well as my own, that it will simply cause the death penalty to dissimilate.
In any event, one will not find me attending an execution, except in the case of researching why public executions don’t work…
Thinking about executions being publicly televised does not seem like a good thing to do. The idea that these people are being killed in front of potentially millions of people is not positive, and in a respect I believe can be considered somewhat of criminal nature in itself. While I am neither for or against the death penalty, it rises the concerns of what is actually trying to be accomplished by taking volunteers to watch as well as considering televising the event. While it is on the particular state to execute these individuals, I believe that that area should be left for those doing the executing to witness and handle the potential post-mental effects.
If someone were to ask me if I was for the death penalty or against it I would say that I am for it. BUT, I do believe that there needs to be multiple changes done before we can utilize capital punishment. Some examples include not executing innocent or possibly innocent inmates, we need to get our execution style fixed, we must stop having our death rows filled with minorities and poor people, and we need to make capital punishment more equal, although one could argue our criminal justice system will never be equal.
As for publicizing the executions on television I think that is a terrible idea. If someone really wanted to watch an execution they should just go to the actual prison instead of be able to watch it on T.V.. I am a little bit shocked that the Governor of Arkansas can’t find enough citizens to watch the execution. Surely there has to be some people out there who would want to.