Capitol Punishment

Missie Bishop

English Composition II

Essay 4 Final Paper

December 09, 2004

Legal Murder

In John Kavanaugh’s essay “Capital Punishment is Unjust”, Kavanaugh discusses different reasons that we as a society may have for legally killing people by means of the death penalty. He begins by depersonalizing the human by saying that those who believe in the death penalty do not value a person as being expendable. They only think of the person as a murderer or other form of criminal. Kavanaugh believes we must all answer to a higher authority but this higher authority says “thou shalt not kill.” In the event that there is a higher value that provides exception to the rule “thou shalt not kill” Kavanaugh believes that his is” a subtle killing of ethics itself. For in killing persons, the foundation of moral experience is itself violated” (par.8).

Kavanaugh then begins to explain his reasoning as to why he believes intentional killing is unethical. He not only speaks of the death penalty: he speaks of intentional killing in all aspects of life such as self defense, war, and killing based on aggression toward someone. In the situation of self defense Kavanaugh states “We may do everything in our power to defend ourselves, short of violating the foundational principle itself by intending to kill the aggressor. Aggression provides no exception” (par14). The deliberate will to kill a human is a motive for murder. Even if virtuously done it is still murder.

Kavanaugh shows that although there may be several reasons to kill that not one of them is a motive for murder. In this essay he shows that there is no excusable clause for intentional killing, it is all murder in some way, shape, or form. Kavanaugh very strongly shows in this essay that the death penalty is intentional killing and should be considered as murder.

I agree with Kavanaugh on his point of view although I believe he could have stressed his point a little further. We should all ask ourselves, why do we kill people, who kill people, to prove that killing people is wrong? This follows the same flaws as spanking our children for fighting to show then that hitting is wrong. Intentional killing is murder and according to society, the bible, and the laws of the land murder is wrong. Yet, somehow we justify capital punishment. Is murder not considered to be murder as long as the people who make the laws are the ones doing the murdering? Each state has its own laws for the death penalty and these laws are set by our states governor. We as a state give our governor the right to play God by allowing him to choose who dies and when they die. There are some states, such as Texas, that are firm believers in the death penalty. Texas is lining people up for death row.

I can understand the Old Testament saying “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” The Old Testament also says “Thou shalt not kill.” And the Old Testament God said “vengeance is mine.” This means we should leave the severe punishment up to God. Let God handle our vengeance for us. We do not have, nor should we ever have the power to decide when it is time for someone to die. I believe that if someone killed my child I would be hurt and angry, very angry. But I don’t believe I would want them dead. I would want them to suffer for the rest of their life. The death penalty really does not punish the culprit. It punishes their family. The murderer is dead; he feels no pain, sorrow or anguish. It is the parents of the murderer who suffer from the death penalty the most. Personally, if it was some of my family that had been murdered, I would want the murderer to have to spend the rest of his long, drawn out life sharing a cell with “Big Bubba” and constantly having to watch his back.

Not only is the death penalty immoral and unethical; it also leaves no room for mistakes. If a person is sentenced to life and found to be innocent then all the state has to do is free them. If an innocent person is sentenced to death and their sentence has been carried out then there is not a way to fix it. They cannot be brought back to life. The executioner, judge, and governor must live the rest of their life in agony for making such a big mistake.

Those who believe in capital punishment say that it is because the murderer is beyond rehabilitation. Unless we can become that other person then we have no means of knowing if that person is rehabilitative or not.