Letters_____________
2_________________
Opinion
To kill or not to kill; that is the question
WedNEsdAy,
M ay
16,
SA LENA DE LA CRUZ
Contributing Writer
After examination of the newly dis
covered FBI documents, the world will
have to wait for the ex^ution of Tin o-
thy McVeigh. -It has «been, resci|xl-
uledrorJhtjejJ. Hbpefuily,itwill bring
to a CTose the death and destruction
that he brought to Oklahoma City when
he detonated an explosion that could
be heard around the world. Hopefully,
his death will open a new chapter in
federal executions and make states re
alize that the death penalty needs to
be used if its in effect
McVeigh will be the first federal ex
ecution «ince 1963. According to USA
Today, 38 states have die death pen
alty and in 2000 there were 85 state
executions, a drop from 1999’s95 ex
ecutions. Victor Feguer, who was
hanged, was the last federal execution.
Society has now opted for more hu
mane ways to carry out the death sen
tence, and yet I find myself wondering
why. When criminals hurt people,^
don’t think they thought, “now what
would be a more humane way to do
this.” Instead, they chose torture, ter
ror and pain. Why are we giving them
the benefit of lethal injection? They
first get a barbiturate to render them
unconscious to prevent suffering and
are then adm inistered two other drugs
to end their life, which takes approxi
mately fourminutes. It seems society
is trying harder to ease the pain of the
offender and less of die victim(s).
There are 19 inmates on federal
death row waiting to die in Terre Haute,
Indiana. We as taxpayers are paying
for them to live there. In an interview
done by USA Today, McVeigh said he
All signed letters to the editor should be SOO words or less and will be
considered for publication if submitted by 1 p.m. the Friday prior to
publication. Letters to-the Editor are subject to editing. We reserve the
2001
couldn ’ t ask for more - he didn’t have
to pay electricity or rent. I think the
reason criminals sit in prison is because
the government is afiaid of getting flack
about the possibility of executing an
innocent person. Didn’tajuiyoftheir
peers find them guilty? I know there
are faults in the system, but it seems
criminals are taken out of society so
they won't be a burden to society, yet
we are burdened by die costs to keep
diem alive by entertaining them and
right to not publish any letter.
A life for a
life
OR
FRANKJORDAN
Sports Editor
It was announced last week that
Timothy McVeigh’s execution would
be postponed until June 11 while his
lawyers pour over documents that
were withheld by the FBI during the
course of his original trial. While it
may not challenge the nature of his
verdict, it may prove worthwhile to
throw out his execution order and sen
tence him to life in prison.
Government-sponsored murder has
been around for a long time, and while
it may be a cost-expedient way to get
rid of die trash, it is turning out to be
the wrong way to dispose of society’s
refuse. If this were a perfect world,
and God knows that it is far from it,
then a death sentence would be car
ried out expeditiously. Unfortunately,
a death sentence automatically tacks
on anywhere from 10-15 years(on av
erage) to someone’s life, while the au
tomatic appeals process runs its
feedingthem.
The people that protest die death
penalty need to stand up and take
notice. I wonder if they’d have the
same mindset if someone they loved
and cared about was killed by vio
lence. Would they be so quick to say
yes to the life of the criminal?
What’s ironic is people are saying
‘what would Jesusdo?’ Indie Bible it
says, “An eye for an eye and a tooth
foratooth.” Enough said. Weneedto
start living by that
During the McVeigh case, USA
Today/CNN surveyed death
penalty protesters and 38%
agreed that McVeigh was an ex
ception and he deserved to die.
An innocent life is an innocent
life, whether it’s one or 168. We
need to cherish the innocent. If
an innocent life is taken by an
act of violence, we need to show
the offender we will not stand
idly by and let their act go un
punished — we will trade a life
for a life.
All 50 states need to enact and
use the death penalty. Maybe
less crimes will be committed
knowing we mean it when we say,
“A life for a life.”
_
course.
Many states are putting holds on
life in
prison for
a
life?
imposed death sentences because
DNA testing is starting to prove time
and time again that some death row
convicts may not have been die people
that committed the heinous acts they
were accused of. Although double
jeopardy (being tried for the same crime
twice, even though acquitted die first
time) may come into play in some of
these cases, at least we are not sham
ing the system and ourselves by ex
ecuting the WRONG PERSON.
Is it really wise to invoke the old
adage “An eye for an eye” in this de
bate? First, itdoesn’tmakeawhole lot
of sense in today’s civilized society.
And second, we try to teach our kids
that killing and murder is wrong and
that no one (not even governments)
should sanction this.
Why not commute McVeigh’s death
sentence into a life sentence without
die possibility ofparole? The bestrea
son that I can think of is it will give
Corporal McVeigh the chance to think
long and hard about what he has done.
Sure, he is unremorseful now, but die
man is 33 years old. He has a good
chance ofliving 30-40more years. Isn’t
that an awfully long time to sit by your
self in a prison cell thinking about the
freedom that you don’t have and what
it is that got you there for all those
years. Maybe McVeigh can come to
some sort of resolution about his situ
ation and try to atone for his sins
against mankind.
By putting him to death, we would
not give him die chance to go through
this mental torture. Right now, he is
putting up a very tough front Give
him a few years; he might change his
attitude.
Does Timothy McVeigh deserve to
die? If he truly wants to, then I don’t
believe that the government should
stop him from carrying out his wishes.
But if he decides to fight this, then all
efforts must be made to granthis wish.
There may come a time that he is ex
ecuted for his crime. But with our cur
rent system of appeals, this may take a
very long time—especially for a fed
eral crime.
To quote from Red, the convicted
murderer played by Morgan Freeman
in the movie “The Shawshank Redemp
tion,” “When they sentence you to
1 ife, that is exactly what they take, or at
least the part that counts.”
Student Poll; tell us what you think!
What are
your
views on
the death
penalty?
■f j
Darin Beaulieu
Jessica Ellis
>Ser/i Wilson
“It Doesn’t bother me a bit as
long as I’m not getting killed. If
“I think ifsomeone kills somebody,
they should die. I think iftheydo
“I’m not against it and I’m
not for it. I’m more for it than
they’re killing people, they
deserve to get killed.”
something, they should have the
against it if I had to choose."
John Greer
“I think there are certain things
that require that type of
punishment. I think a life for a life.”
same thing done to than."
Photos by Mike Pollock.
Quotes compiled by Liesl Muggli.
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