Psychological punishment needed for cruel crimes

by Alex Everett, ad/graphics design editor

         Understanding that I do live in Texas, one of the 38 states still sanctioning capital punishment, this may not be the easiest audience for which to write to about the death penalty.

         I would just like to plant a few seeds and let the reader determine whether to let this article sway his or her opinion on this subject.

         Since 1976, Texas has the most deaths by capital punishment-383-in the United States, which should not be a surprise to many of you.

         I have, unfortunately, lost two friends who were both victims of murder in the past three years. Pity is not what I'm looking for, just comprehension that my opinion is coming from people who I knew. They are not just numbers that you read in a magazine or online.

         Anyone can fill a page with all of the facts that are kept about the death penalty, but I don’t want to do that. I want to offer a different solution instead of this get-even-quick method that so many Texans seem to love and support.

         I believe that the death penalty is an easy way out for a killer. Hypothetically speaking, if I murdered someone, I would pray that the police would keep me in Texas or take me to Virginia (second to Texas in capital punishment) so that I could be put to death within a few years.

         If you had the option of spending the rest of your life in a prison with members of the same sex, with no freedom, no luxuries, no family, nothing but time to regret the acts committed, or be put to death, out of your misery, what would you prefer?

         I say the convicted should talk to the family and friends of the person they have murdered, and then let the family share pictures and stories of the person who was killed. Mentally torture them. Make them know what they did is wrong through other means than a quick death.

         Let them see the faces of those they have affected, hurt, and scarred. Justice will be brought

to them, not by the public or the government, but by a guilty  conscience.

         The public may argue that the prison systems are not that bad, that they have reasonable accommodations for living. Some may say that they don’t deserve to even live in a prison, they deserve death. Keeping them alive for the full length of the sentence is not tough enough punishment for some.

         Imagine waking up when being told to, having an eating schedule, shower time, and basically living the remainder of life being told what to do and when to do it. Not to mention that they have to cope and live with their past actions, realizing that the sweet taste of freedom will never be tasted again.

         From a financial standpoint, it would seem that the cost of putting an inmate to death would be cheaper compared to keeping that person alive. In all actuality, the cost is higher to practice capital punishment than to keep the inmate alive.

         As long as this country is going to insist that the death penalty still be in practice, let’s re-evaluate who we are putting to death. Should it be murderers, but not re-peat child molesters and rapists? There are convicted offenders of rape and child molestation roaming the streets because their short sentence allowed them to be set free. If the death penalty is going to be in effect, I don’t understand why the prisons are not putting these people in the “hot seat.”

         If they are repeat offenders, obviously they have learned nothing from their prison visit. They are a threat to society and deserve nothing from this life.

         Although my idea may not be the most realistic or popular solution for capital punishment, killing an inmate because he/she has murdered someone does not even the system out. It only fuels the already huge fire of man killing man.