Execute the Unforgivable In 1986, from roughly midnight of Sunday, January fifth to the early morning of January sixth, Richard A. Benson murdered Laura Camargo, her almost two-year-old son, and her four and two-year-old daughters. Benson killed Laura around midnight on January fifth in her home. He began to rape her two young daughters. Later that evening, he killed Sterling, Lauras's two-year-old son. After this, Benson described his situation to the police as "a molester's type of heaven." Benson would go on to sexually assault the toddlers until the early hours of the following day when he finally beat them to death and set fire to the home to cover his tracks. After admitting to the crime, Benson was sentenced to death (St). He would then …show more content…
Had Benson been executed by capital means, the family of Laura and her children would feel more closure than they do now. Sadly, this is a familiar setting; convicted monsters sit on death row for decades until they die in their sleep. The prison sentencing system must be completely revamped, especially the death penalty. The death penalty needs to be used more often, and inmates should be executed sooner. Someone who commits a heinous crime should not be allowed to receive three warm meals a day and shelter for free, and the public should not have to pay to feed this monster. Death penalty inmates should only be given three appeal trials; after they lose, they will be executed within the month. Capital punishment is reserved for only the most disturbing crimes, meaning there is no chance to rehabilitate the criminal. If this is so, then why should they continue to be kept alive for so long? The death penalty needs to be carried out quicker, and the sentence …show more content…
However, these feelings are nothing compared to the thoughts and feelings the victim was going through at the time of the crime. Imagine how the two young girls felt as Benson raped them. Crimes gruesome enough to warrant the death penalty are deserving of death; executions should be carried out much sooner. Inmates should no longer be sitting on death row for three decades. Instead, inmates should be given three appeal trials spanning five years. Once those five years are up, or the prisoner loses each appeal, the execution must be carried out within the month of the expiration. "Currently, 38 of the fifty states have the death penalty. Of these 38, seven have not executed an inmate since 1976, and fifteen do not permit the execution of juvenile offenders. Statistics reveal that the death row population is at its historical peak; more than 3,700 persons await the death penalty in the United States," ("Death Penalty | World of Criminal Justice, Gale - Credo Reference"). The US is at an all-time low for executing inmates but an all-time high for the death row population. Not only is that just plain stupid, but it is also highly frustrating. People sentenced to the death penalty are supposed to die, not go to prison for the rest of their lives. Those sitting on death row are just serving a life sentence. Some argue that this is what they want; for those who hurt their families to rot in a cell for the
In 1992 Kennedy Brewer was arrested in the state of Mississippi and accused of killing his girlfriend’s 3 year old daughter Christine Jackson. Brewer was babysitting the child that evening and two days after she disappeared her body was found in a creek. After he waited in jail for three years a trial began and Brewer was convicted of capital murder and sent to death row. Police suspected Brewer because he was the only one home and there was no evidence of a break in. although there was a broken window by where the child slept that was overlooked that could have been an entry way for an intruder.
Some criminals deserve to die because they should not have the privilege to live 30 years after, from being sentenced to death for committing first degree murder. For example, there has been a case, in 1984, where Kermit Alexander’s family was murdered. As a matter of fact, the criminals have not been executed since they have received the death sentence.
Being on death row often prolongs the pain for the inmate. They spend their time in prison fearing the inevitable which for them is death. Today, we live in a society that is very divided on this issue. There are many in support of the death penalty, suggesting that it acts as a positive deterrent against future crime. There are also many
“‘Death sentences represent less than one-tenth of 1% of prison sentences in the United States…,’” (Von Drehle, 9). Furthermore, death row is just a small fraction of the criminal justice system and can not be based on that alone. For instance, what many don't take into account is the justice systems allows for many states, such as the populous state of New York, to ban the death penalty. (state laws, p1)
In the beginning of 2018 there was already 2,816 people on death row and in the first 3 months 6 of those people were executed. The death penalty is the punishment of execution administered by someone of authority. It is used to punish someone that has committed a horrible crime . The punishment is the most expensive form of capital punishment that is given. The death penalty is not fair because it is unconstitutional, gender biased, and inhumane.
Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is a legal process in which a person is put to death as a punishment for a crime by the government of a nation. The United States is in the minority group of nations that uses the death penalty. There are thirty-three states that allow capital punishment and seventeen states that abolished it (Death Penalty Information Center). The morality of the death penalty has been debated for many years. Some people want capital punishment to be abolished due to how it can cost a lot more than life imprisonment without parole, how they think it is immoral to kill, and how innocent people can be put to death.
This is the opposite of the case. As Sister Helen Prejean said, “[t]he torture [capital punishment] happens when conscious human beings are condemned to death and begin to anticipate that death and die a thousand times before they die” (Prejean 61). The offender should have to encounter their death over and over until the minute they die. They should not have the choice of whether they live or die when they have taken the lives of people who never got a say. Their victims encountered more torture than they ever will and the least we can do is take
In some states, a direct appeal is required, however, in other states it is the offender’s decision. A death penalty inmate spends on average a decade on death row before execution. A decade allows adequate time to file appeals, if they feel their sentence is unfair. After the completion of this appeal, it is the offender’s decision to attempt
I believe murders and other “brutal criminals” should not be executed instead of spending life in jail. From the flaws in the justice system, success rates of rehabilitation and the lack of mental illness being represented is a major issue that needs to be addressed. The Canadian Justice System has its challenges, but its flaws outshine the good it has done. I'm personally aware of a situation where an individual was convicted for 2nd degree murder. Only after 3 years were they able to get their murder charge reduced to an accessory, which was more appropriate when reviewing the case.
This ungodly sentence should not be allowed in the U.S.A, because almost half of are states already don’t allow it. Which should tell you that it is a wrongful punishment just because they made a mistake that they will regret their whole entire lives. Another thing is some people who have been put on death row have been executed and then looked closer at the case and found out that they had been accused for something they didn’t even do. And recently in the state of Nebraska they have found with the advancements in DNA testing that 17 prisons who were wrongly convicted on death row were set free.
The Death Penalty, loss of life due to previous crimes and actions, is believed by some to be extremely costly, inhumane, and cruel unlike some others whom believe it is just, right, and provides closure. The Death Penalty is not a quick and easy process. Most who get sentenced to deaths row wait years for their ultimate punishment of death. Some believe that it is not right to punish and kill a human for actions they have done because, they believe that the inmate should have another chance. Then others believe that it is right to punish someone for their actions especially if their actions involve killing another or multiple humans.
There is a very short explanation to why the big numbers plays part in this. Death penalty is flawed in many ways. Together with all the required appeals to execute someone actually costs more than a lifetime in prison. Think about how much money the government would save if they stopped executing people. Let us take Texas as an example.
George Stinney was a 14 year old African American, who was wrongly charged with murder. Stinney was accused of the murder of Betty June Binnicker, who was 11, and Mary Emma Thomas, who was 7 (“Wrongful Convictions Then and Now: The Tragic Case of George Stinney Jr.”). Their “bodies were found in a ditch on March 24, 1944” (“George Stinney Jr., who was Executed at Age 14 without a fair trial, is Honored
Since 1973, 173 deathrow inmates have been exonerated showing the imperfect nature of the criminal justice system, which is bound to make errors in conviction. Death is permanent; an inmate cannot be released post-mortem. If the death penalty continues, it will certainly lead to the deaths of innocent people and therefore, can not be considered morally upright. When a punishment given out by the justice system violates the Bill of Rights, a cornerstone of American life, and is inarguably immoral, it has no place in our
I rise today to speak with grave concern about the aspects of the United States death penalty. There are five different forms of execution in the United States: hanging, electrocution, lethal injection, lethal gas, and firing squad. I believe that all of these should be legal in order to sustain justice. “If we show mercy to the guilty, we are only showing cruelty to the innocent.” Why should we abolish the death penalty if someone harms or kills another person?