Humanity had decided that those who commit the most heinous crimes, deserve to die. For many years people had been hung, burned, skinned alive or thrown into an arena with lions in it, all because of terrible, unspeakable crimes. What’s worse, is that sometimes those people were innocent, putting the authorities into the position of a murderer. But these days, the number of people who believe that execution is wrong has risen dramatically, and debates have started whether it’s okay to lawfully kill someone or not. According to many people and myself, execution should be illegal due to various reasons such as being primitive, and most importantly, giving us a wrong sense of justice.
One meaning of justice is : “ fairness in the way people are …show more content…
As a plain example, the west (being Europe) has no executions at all (The death penalty has been completely abolished in all European countries, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Europe), while most eastern states still have execution in their law, as the top ten countries who executed the most people are nearly all eastern (www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/mar/29/death-penalty-countries-world). Developed minds have understood that they have no right over who dies and who lives, but those who cannot comprehend human rights still insist on killing. In developed countries, people and groups who have nothing to do with law have been taking part in telling people that execution is wrong, like the heavy metal group Metallica. In their song “Ride the Lightning” (The Lightning, meaning the electric chair), a line of lyrics says: “Who made you God to say, I'll take your life from you?", clearly showing that they were against capital punishment and that they tried to put this idea into the heads of their young audience. Since there are no social messages against execution in underdeveloped countries such as Iran (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3454413/Iranian-heavy-metal-band-face-execution-charged-blasphemy-writing-satanic-music-speaking-foreign-radio-stations.html), the people there have a harder time separating right from wrong. We as the higher intellectual societies, must …show more content…
Yet another person, Kermit Alexander, who was experienced the loss of family members due to a murder states that people will never be able to feel the pain that he did, after a gang member killed his mother, sister and two-nephews in cold-blood. He also states that the murderer attempted a violent takeover of the Super Max Adjustment Center at San Quentin with a goal to kill as many guards as possible. “I urge a no vote on Prop. 62 and yes on Prop. 66 to ensure the worst of the worst killers receive the strongest sentence.” is what Kermit Alexander says on the matter. While it is true that the worst criminals deserve the worst punishment ( NOT EXECUTION ), Kermit seems to be emotionally attached to the matter, only thinking about his personal vendetta against the murderer, Tiequon Cox. Although the events that happened are truly horrid, again, who made us God? As the world-renowned German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche said : “Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you.” (https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/272885-beware-that-when-fighting-monsters-you-yourself-do-not-become). If we are to deem ourselves human, we must act humane. Do not give in to hate, as it leads to