John Allen Muhammad -- who directed one of the worst outbreaks of crime in the nation's history -- died in Virginia's death chamber as some of his victims' relatives looked on.
While I wish Muhammad spent the rest of his days experiencing the hell he gave to his victims and their families, I did not wish that he would perish by the hands of lethal injection. There was a time in my life that I believed in the death penalty for crimes of murder and rape, I do not now. Taking a life as a way of a punishment is not only inhumane it is downright wrong. We do not live in the Wild West anymore. We cannot just string someone up by the nearest tree and expect to gain justice from it.
The American Civil Liberties Union believes the death penalty inherently violates the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment and the guarantees of due process of law and of equal protection under the law. Furthermore, the ACLU believes that the state should not arrogate unto itself the right to kill human beings – especially when it kills with premeditation and ceremony, in the name of the law or in the name of its people, or when it does so in an arbitrary and discriminatory fashion.
To have a “ceremony”, where the victims’ relatives watch the death penalty being carried out is not a way to end their grieving.
Capital punishment is an intolerable denial of civil liberties, and is inconsistent with the fundamental values of our democratic system. Therefore, through litigation, legislation, commutation and by helping to foster a renewed public outcry against this barbarous and brutalizing institution, the ACLU strives to prevent executions and seek the abolition of capital punishment.
I for one have never believed that I would have anything in common with the ACLU. I do agree with their position wholeheartedly. I am a practicing catholic and the death penalty is against catholic doctrine, but it not just my faith that guides my feelings. How can someone be pro-life and be pro-death penalty?
A majority of governments in the United Nations General Assembly voted on November 15, 2008 to support a global moratorium on the death penalty, over the objections of the U.S., China, Iran and Sudan.
The non-binding resolution, adopted by a vote of 99 members in favor, 52 against and 33 abstaining, asks all governments in the world body to “establish a moratorium on executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.” The measure says the death penalty “undermines human dignity” and that there is no conclusive evidence of its deterrent value.
The use of the death penalty places the United States in an uncomfortable position, since most of the other countries that use capital punishment are, at best, only marginal democracies. International human rights discourse generally assumes a right not to be executed by the state. The death penalty is wrong and it needs to be abolished.
Recently, opponents have focused on the possibility of mistakes in the application of the death penalty, which might lead to the execution of an innocent person. Advances in investigative technology have bolstered their argument. While none of the individuals actually executed has been retrospectively proven innocent, a number of inmates currently awaiting execution have had their convictions thrown into doubt.
The Supreme Court recently halted executions of the mentally handicapped, and this year extended the ban to those under 18 years of age at the time of the crime. These rulings were partly in response to public disapproval of such executions, but also stimulated by the perceived U.S. deviation from international norms. The Court has chosen to manage the death penalty at the margins, rather than directly challenge the process. How can we as a people on this earth make putting a person to death arbitrary?
Follow me on twitter at https://twitter.com/drcchasse
or send a friend request on facebook http://www.facebook.com/cris.chasse
E-mail me at drcchasse@verizon.net to get on our mailing list.
Please forward to your friends and colleagues to enjoy. The more readers I have, the more money that is raised for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
E-mail: drcrischasse@verizon.net
voice 206-350-6437
No comments:
Post a Comment