Opinion: Keep death penalty an option for those who commit violent crimes

Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014, 11 p.m. — There is a push across the country, as well as here in Kentucky, to eliminate the death penalty. That would leave life without the possibility of parole as the toughest sentence that can be handed down to someone convicted of a serious crime.Depending on the state, they are citing it costs too much or is inhumane. How do you feel about that? How do you tell a family that even though their child was raped, tortured, and murdered that it wouldn’t be right to put the man to death? That it is too costly or just inhumane to do so? Was not what the criminal did inhumane as well? As a parent I would not only want the justice deserved, I would expect it.Is it wrong to sentence someone to death? Biblically, we are told not to murder. The literal translation of the sixth commandment is “murder” not “kill”. Execution is definitely allowed as a form of punishment. And if used more often, instead of society being passive and lenient, it would become a good deterrent. What kind of deterrent will getting rid of the death penalty be? A criminal will have nothing to fear but having to live his remaining days in a cell with free cable TV, free meals, free medical care and free gym membership.

Are there are times when innocent people are convicted? Yes. Should we allow for that? Yes. However, when DNA evidence proves beyond a doubt that a person was the perpetrator, or when a theater full of people all witness the gunman act, then give the criminal what he or she deserve. To allow anyone who would perform a horrendous act on an individual — especially a child — and not give them death would be sending a message to the victim’s families that the criminal’s life is more important than their child’s life was.

This argument has debated for thousands of years. It will continue to go on. But to say that a criminal is being treated unfairly or inhumanely because we inject him with chemicals that slow down his breathing and heart rate and let him drift off to sleep is the real injustice. If any tortured, murder victim could somehow testify to their experience, I am quite sure it would be anything but drifting off to sleep.

On the contrary, the death penalty should be utilized more often and should be devised in a way that is so painful and agonizing that no one would possibly want to risk ever having to be subjected to it. The death penalty is not there just for the punishment of the criminal. It is there to be a deterrent and to allow closure for the victim’s families.

Some are against it regardless of the circumstances. Well, we will have to agree to disagree. However, if a criminal goes out and commits a crime deserving of the death penalty, I for one want to see that justice is done and I am sure most families of the victims will want it too.

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