What is justice? You’re strapped down to a cold table, the lights burn your eyes, you can’t see anything. The beeping of medical equipment is the only sound you hear.
People come and insert a needle into each of your arms, which will soon deliver a lethal dose of drugs to kill you. Your heart races, and they ask you if you have any last words.
You mutter, I’m innocent, and you feel the drugs release through your bloodstream, you know that in about eight minutes you’ll be dead. Capital punishment, the act of killing someone who has committed murder is unjust.
How does it make sense to murder someone who commit murder? I don’t think that sounds just to me, in fact its fairly barbaric.
How, in a society that condemns violence, do we justify committing an act of violence against these individuals? People claim that the act of lethal injection is painless and humane, but murder is not something we consider humane.
So lets give it a fancy name, and suddenly its ok. Suddenly our reservations are solved and it’s not something we have to question or ask ourselves if it’s morally fine.
Lets call it for what it is, murder. Do you think we would still be fine with it, if the headlines read “Man who murdered so and so was murdered today by State officials,” would we feel differently about it?
There has to be some form of alternative punishment life sentences, rehabilitation, or something else we haven’t thought of yet.
I’m not saying that the crimes these individuals have committed are ok, but turning around and doing the same thing in return is not acceptable either. Maybe the saying and eye for an eye leaves everyone blind is something we are ok with.
Personally I think we have the choice to be whoever it is we want to be. I advocate for love and compassion, regardless of what an individual has done.
Community crimes makes you no less human than anyone else. Don’t criminals deserve the same respect and kindness as you or me?
So lets not murder someone who may have done the same, lets find alternatives that make us less barbaric.