Death Was the Sentence
Can you imagine coming up with a simple plan to rob a convenience store and everything starts to goes wrong? Well I bet Andrew Ramseur couldn’t picture it either. 19 year old Andrew Ramseur was accused of killing Jennifer Vincek and Jeffrey Robert Peck, on December 16, 2007. Ramseur was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of robbery with a weapon. Instead of giving Ramseur a life sentence in prison he was sentenced to his death. As of October 28, 2010 there are 159 inmates on North Carolina’s death row just like Andrew Ramseur. Isn’t that where those cold hearted murders belong? Is the question that most people would ask, but the real question is why should these prisoners be sentenced to death instead of them being rehabilitated? Isn’t that the real reason criminals are sent to prison? To actually think about what has put them in a certain position, and of course to serve a punishment given to them by the law. Instead these so called “cold hearted killers” get put out there misery by choosing lethal injection or electric chair. Murderers shouldn’t be given the death sentence, but sentence to life in prison. Punishments should not include the death of others, but solitary confinement. It hurts to lose a love one and there’s no other way to feel that void. In some case families of those victims may feel that it may be some type of comfort that the punishment for murderers should be death. On October 27, 2010 Elie Wiesel spoke at a lecture on capital murder at Wesleyan University and he stated “I know the pain of those who survive. Believe me, I know… Your wound is open. It will remain. You are mourning, and how can I not feel the pain of your mourning? But death is not the answer.” You are not helping your love one, but helping the murderer by letting him/her get off easy. Instead you should demand the suspect to receive a life sentence. Give them a life time of thoughts about what they have done, and the effects it has placed on both families. Let them sit and think about the children they will never be able to hold and the grandchildren they will never see.
Friends and families shouldn’t be included in any decision that deals with the murderer punishment. In an interview with Northern Illinois student Shakela Goss on October 14, 2010, she was asked what type of punishment do she think murderers should receive? Goss said in response “All murderers are a disgrace to the universe and should be put to death.” Goss was then asked what if it was her family member that has been put on death row? Goss then answered “Well that kind of turns the tables around because it will be painful for me and my family. For example if it was my brother I would want him to receive jail time, but not death sentence.” In a way isn’t that contradicting yourself? When it’s not involving your friends or family you believe that a murderer deserves to be put to death after killing someone, but when it comes down to your friends or family members being a murderer he/she deserves jail time. In Conclusion the death sentence is one of the largest controversial topics today. The most frequent question asked is, shouldn’t you be handed the same death you gave to someone else? No you should not. Murderers should only be given a life sentence instead of the death sentence. In the bible it say’s “forgive thou neighbor”, but “Thou shalt not kill”. In both instances I can see where you can argue the fact of murder. If you did kill someone you do deserve a punishment, but should be forgiven for what you have done. Then on the other hand you wouldn’t be in a certain position if you wouldn’t have killed another living soul, but should that matter when it’s another life at stake? Should I give up my life for the one I have already taken? Those are the questions I leave you with to think about.
