Annotated Bibliography

Atwood, Aaron. “Defends morality of death penalty.” Newstimes. (2010): n. page. Web. 27 Oct. 2012. .

Using the commandment as support for a claim revolving around how the death penalty is wrong is invalid; they really meant, “Thou shalt not murder”. Killing in terms of an “eye for an eye” is not immoral. The death penalty won’t deter crimes. But, criminals have been ceased to harm others when they have a gun held against their head, theoretically speaking, in self-defense. Also, the death penalty is definitely much cheaper than life imprisonment. With all that it costs the government to house inmates for life, it logically makes sense that it costs more than an electric chair session or lethal injection.

Brown, Jerry. "California Proposition 34, the End the Death Penalty Initiative (2012." Ballotpedia.org. Ballot Pedia, n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. .

The official summary of proposition 34 goes as follows: it may repeal the death penalty as maximum punishment for a person found guilty of murder and be replaced with life in prison. This applies also to people who have already been sentenced to death. It states that a person found guilty of murder must work in prison; their rate of pay is decided based upon victim restitution fines and orders against them. It directs a $100 million fund to law enforcement agencies to help investigations or rape and homicide cases.

Celizic, Mike. “Somer’s mom: Death penalty would be ‘fair’.” MSNBC. (2010): n. page. Web. 29 Oct. 2012.

A 7-year-old Florida girl, Somer Thompson, was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered by Jared Harrell. After 5 long months, police finally made the arrest and Diena Thompson, Somer’s mother hosted a fundraising concert called “Somer Jam” to benefit the Somer Thompson Foundation. Harrell was charged with capital crimes but it is still undecided whether he will face the death penalty or not. Police found child pornography on his computer after being kicked out of his apartment by his roommats two months before Somer’s abduction. But there was no way to predict that Harrell would commit the crime against her.

"End the Death Penalty Now!." Michigan State University. N.p.. Web. 27 Oct 2012. .

Herbert, Bob. “Convicted, Executed, Not Guilty.” NY Times. (2005): n. page. Web. 27 Oct. 2012. .

Larry Griffin was found guilty for the murder of Quintin Moss. He was executed but later found innocent. Then, a private investigation was conducted for Mr. Griffin’s execution. It was found that Mr. Fitzgerald, an eyewitness of the event, had a false testimony. This investigation is still being looked at with 3 suspects.

“Introduction to Death Penalty.” Death Penalty Information Center. N.p.. Web. 27 Oct 2012. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/part-i-history-death-penalty

The Death Penalty Information Center is a website that gives lots of information about the death penalty from the history to the reports about it. The page of which I used information was the introduction of this government action, which includes early death penalty laws and the law today. It also included the abolitionist movement and the constitutionality of the death penalty in America.

Post 5: Worth Death Row?

         It is a growing debate and controversial topic about whether certain cases are worth giving the criminal the death sentence. It differs from state to state. But in California, Proposition 34 is underway. This proposition is going to create a $100 million dollar fund to help agencies solve more rape and homicide cases. Although this proposition will repeal the death penalty as maximum punishment for a person found guilty of murder, it will support agencies which is what we need. We need this proposition to help decipher people worth the death penalty.

         Like I said earlier, there will be human error in almost anything we do. But we can do as much as we can to at least turn it down. Proposition 34 will help us do this. Way too many cases happen where the person was actually guilty of the crime or where the person didn’t really deserve to be executed. Tomorrow, November 4^th, is election day and if this passes, California could be giving our country a great start on really serving justice when it comes to the death penalty. The death penalty should definitely remain a valid sentence but it needs to be sentenced more wisely.

         As my final statement about the death penalty, I am in full support of it. I just think that it needs to be handled more wisely. People are being charged with crimes they never did and some of them are being executed. But, hopefully proposition 34 will help that issue. At the end of the day, there is not a moral issue with this sentence; it is fair. There are just some bolts that need to be tightened.

Brown, Jerry. "California Proposition 34, the End the Death Penalty Initiative (2012)." Ballotpedia.org. Ballot Pedia, n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. .

Post 4: Price

People are also making the claim that keeping someone in jail is cheaper than the death sentence. Let’s think about this for a moment. By having someone in jail, our tax dollars are paying for them to be fed, sheltered, cleaned, etc. Maintaining someone for the rest of their life in jail seems to be a lot more expensive in the longer run rather than using simple technology for an electric chair or a quick lethal injection. Simple logic was used here.

         With the high rising numbers of this country’s financial debt, we all know that with the death penalty being fair and cheaper, that we should know what route to take versus life imprisonment. Why shouldn’t this country take that route? I understand that the death penalty won’t be appropriate for all serious crimes and that life imprisonment would be more acceptable. But with the over population of inmates, and the cost difference, this capital punishment should be something that this country should make legal throughout all 50 states.

Atwood, Aaron. "Defends morality of death penalty." newstimes. (2010): n. page. Web. 27 Oct. 2012. .

Post 3: Fair Punishment?

            Let’s try to put our shoes in those of Diena Thompson, the mother of Somer Thompson. Somer was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and murdered at the age of 7. Her body was found 2 days later in a landfill 50 miles from her home in Jacksonville. If you were Diena wouldn’t you want the worst punishment for the criminal who did this to your daughter? I know I would want capital punishment for the person who did this.

            If cases like these don’t spell out fair, then I suppose I don’t know how to spell it. The criminal, Jared Harrell, must be a sick, twisted monster, just like other pedophiles. It’s only fair for a man to be sentenced to capital punishment if he took the life of another, especially when it was obviously a first degree murder. He planned and took the necessary steps to take this innocent, young girl away from her family, touch her in inappropriate places, and then kill her. I think it’s safe to say I’m not the only person who would rather not know how she was killed.

This is one of many, many repulsive stories where the criminal deserves more than capital punishment but as society, it’s the only way we can try to make things even. If cases like these don’t spell out fair, then I suppose I don’t know how to spell it. The criminal, Jared Harrell, must be a sick, twisted monster, just like other pedophiles. I wish there were worse punishments for people like Harrell but the judicial system does the best that it can.

Celizic, Mike. "Somer’s mom: Death penalty would be ‘fair’." MSNBC. (2010): n. page. Web. 29 Oct. 2012.

Post 2: Guilty vs. Innocent

         Believe it or not, there are a good handful of people in this country who have been convicted and sentenced to death row when they should’ve have. In cases like the Larry Griffin case, found “guilty” of killing drug dealer Quintin Moss, he was sentenced to death row when he damned well shouldn’t have been (Herbert). This puts our judicial system to shame. Let’s define the word justice according to dictionary.com, justice means the quality of being just; righteousness, equitableness, or moral rightness. The judicial system accusing the wrong person of a crime, makes them wrong, not right.

         Like any other working field, there will be flaws. It is what it is. There’s not much that can be changed to prevent flaws in this sentence for the future. But the judicial system needs to stop accusing people just to get the case over with and announce they’ve reached “justice”. Maybe another reason why this happens is because it’s an honest mistake. This could be another reason why some are against death row. But again, there will be faults in every field America runs.

         It truly is a shame that this happens within our judicial system. It only causes problems later when it’s too late after he’s already been executed. It involves compensation to the convicted’s family, going back to the suspect list, etc. Why not do it right to begin with to really serve justice the first time and save the work later? I may never understand.

Herbert, Bob. "Convicted, Executed, Not Guilty." NY Times. (2005): n. page. Web. 27 Oct. 2012. .