Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PRO:
Definitions:
• “prisoners sentenced to life” as Humans who are accused and convicted of a
serious crime (murder) and be prosecuted by law which states that they should
be isolated in prison for the rest of his/her life. The judge is reluctant to give
death penalty and so they gave out a life sentence instead.
• “ chose death instead” as giving the convict a certain amount of rights to chose
a shortcut for freedom of pain and suffering from jail.
Clarifications:
• Applies only to prisoners who have a high probability of not being able to
adapt to prison life and die on short term.
• Applies only to prisoners who are mentally stable. ( One way to check is to
have a doctor under a government agency who have no link whatsoever to
the prisoner diagnose him or check him up for any mental illnesses)- By
doing this, we could be certain that the prisoner is making the right
decision in the correct state of mind.
• Prisoner will be given a grace period of a year or more to be able to adapt
to prison life and then be inquired whether to chose death instead.
• Prisoners must NOT be forced or pressured in any way to make their
decision.
Substantive Points:
For this point, I am referring specifically to three main subject groups. The
judge, the convicts family/relatives and the society.
First of all, the judge. As we all know, very few judges do give out death
penalty and prefer a life sentence. This is probably due to the effects on
his/her mind when giving out an order that would actually “murder” the
murderer. We have to take notes that judges are still human beings, and
humans beings do have emotions. By carrying out that order, judges would
feel a certain amount of guilt and might be haunted day and night
continuously. By allowing these prisoners to chose their own fate. It sends
out a message to the judge that “the prisoner “wants” to die, so help him”
…..(elaboration) Nevertheless, if judges do give out death sentences
instead of allowing prisoners to chose, its would ultimately give out the
wrong message to the society and “ you killed us, so we kill you”. Yes, we
want to make sure that there is accountability for the crime and effective
deterrent in place, but think again. The sate is actually using a murder to
punish someone who committed a murder. Does that make sense? Is that
what a state “leader” should do? State leaders should give the right
example to the public society and expect that they should learn from it. Is
killing really what the state wants the society to learn? That’s for you to
answer. Let me remind you that My purpose here to to encourage the
allowance that prisoners chose their own fate, either death or life sentence
so that the state wouldn’t show any sign of message that killing is what
people should do or that the law supports killing.
Secondly, families and relatives. By giving these prisoners a choice to
chose death instead, we are actually benefitting the convicts family or
relatives. If they do chose death, it would mean that there will be a closure
to the victims AND the convicts family and relatives. If prisoners chose
death. This would hasten the recovery process of the victims family, as it
would achieve some kind of closure, they wouldn’t feel haunted by the
fact that the murderer is still alive. If the prisoner chooses death. Yes, its
true that the convicts family and relatives would feel a loss and be grieved
by it. But it would soon lower. They would soon get over the fact and
continue with life. This is much better than letting them worry day and
night of what might happen to the convict in prison. This would stress
them and tense them up( not so good for a person’s health). Yes, although
they might be able to visit them if they remain in jail for life, there is still
an controlled amount of times you can do it, and there is a curfew in most
prisons. Most visits to these convicts would normally end up in tears and
heart-breaks, there again, not so good for one’s health. (elaborate)
Lastly, the society. The Global and nation society. By giving the prisoners
a choice to chose death instead of life imprisonment( because the judge is
reluctant) we are actually moving forth from the “eye for an eye” revenge
mentality in the society. Let me repeat that we are not encouraging death
nor life imprisonment, we are rather giving prisoners the choice to chose,
so the law is not in anyway biased towards on side. For us the civilizations
to advance, we need to start moving away from punishments and start
looking on other alternatives. The ‘eye for an eye” mentality would not
solve anything. A revenge philosophy inevitably leads to an endless circle
of violence. Why do you think the Israeli- Palestine conflict has been
going on for more than 50 years? Why do you think gang violence in
countries never seem to end? It is important to send a message to the
society that striking back at your enemy purely for revenge will always
make matters worst. By doing this, we are showing that our country is not
always full of vengeance, to kill any “imperfect” member of the group.
Take for example America. Its no secret that anit-americanism is rampant
around the globe. One of the main reasons is because of its continued use
of death penalty. They are seen as a violent, vengeful nation for such a
policy. This is pretty much the same view that Europeans had of America
when they continued the practice of slavery long after it had been banned
in Europe. We are asking prisoners to chose if they want death instead of
life sentence. We aint forcing them a death sentence.