Many individuals oppose the use of the death penalty simply because they have been told that killing in any form is wrong and that sayings like two wrongs don’t make a right are inherent truths. However, there are existing individuals who have already betrayed that moral code through murder.
Some might protest that, with the death penalty, innocent people are killed, and the U.S. judiciary system is racially biased. However, since 1976, 75.6% of those executed under the death penalty murdered white people, while only 15.3% killed black victims, and 6.9% murdered Latinx individuals—this may indicate that the lives of white victims are valued more in potential death row cases. On top of this, only a vetted jury of 12 citizens can choose the death penalty as a sentence once an extensive trial that includes two attorneys and a judge has taken place. Even if an incorrect sentencing was made in the past, the introduction of social media and advanced forensic technology has reduced the chances of an innocent execution.
Americans can debate the death penalty all they want, but when the family of victims affected by unspeakable crimes voice their desire for their attackers to undergo the death penalty — for closure, justice, fear, or hope — they must be heard.
When Adrianna Davis, a victim of the Boston Marathon Bombings, learned that her attacker would be sentenced to death, she bravely announced, “Since that moment, I feel like there’s a bit of closure for me. I’m never going to have to see him again.” More than 260 people were injured that day, and three killed. Someone who thinks that they are allowed to kill and harm innocent civilians has lost the right to live.
It must be understood that individuals sentenced to death have committed such horrific crimes that death is the only just punishment that can make up for their atrocities. Reporting on the horrendous acts of Oklahoma bomber, Timothy McVeigh, The Telegraph stated, “The blast was the worst terror attack on American soil prior to 9/11 but McVeigh showed no remorse, claiming that after his execution the score would be ‘168 to 1’.” Clearly, people like McVeigh commit these horrendous crimes unapologetically, so why should we be apologetic about using capital punishment?
We should pity the three-year-old who was brutally stabbed to death by John Eichinger, the newborn baby who was shot multiple times by Gerald Watkins, and the thousands of victims whose lives ended in horrific murders. We shouldn’t for a second pity the soulless individuals who suffer the consequences they made with the full understanding that their life might be taken from them.
