Page 144 - Phoenix2000-01

Thursday, April 26, 2001 - Page 8 COMMENTARY There is a justified purpose No one has the right to kill for capitol punishment. Joan Faulkner argues that under what it costs to keep somebody in a maxi- no means should capitol prison for 40 years. mum-security the burden on the Amen- Not to mention, Amy Bittinger describes the ishment to serve the other purposes. For ex- punishment be enforced in the US. can court system is immense. In California purpose of the death penalty, who ample, 1 do not think that executing the In the Oklahoma City Bombing, the big- and Florida, for instance .. the state supreme deserves it, and why it is good. small number of people who have been ex- gest US mass murder and a time of sadness courts spend about one-half of their time re- ecuted in Maryland (4 in the past 25 years) and tragedy, Timothy McVeigh was found viewing capital cases also according to "After May the 161h, that man can never, is enough to deter. guilty of killing more than 260 people. Now, Economist. As the court of last resort, the ever, to any degree, bother me again." 1 think that trying to make execution a as he awaits his execution, he has become American Supreme Court is inundated with Those are the words of Dan McKinney form of deterrence would lead to improper one of the most hated men in the country, death penalty appeals. concerning the upcoming execution of use and could have other repercussions. For wanted dead by many. Again, who are we to play God when it Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, example, it might set the precedent that the While McVeigh might assuredly be guilty, comes to death? That most certainly is what whose wife died in the blast. This is the ex- answer to violence is-violence. how can Americans be justified in executing we are doing when executing people. We are act, and only reason, the death penalty is a Similarly, J do not think that capitol pun- him? Ifhe is executed, aren't the people who overstepping the natural time of a person's necessary option in America's criminal jus- ishment should serve as a punishment, in did the killing just as guilty of murder as death, and replacing it with the time we see tice system. spite of what its name implies. Taking McVeigh? Sure he killed hundreds more than fit. We may feel like we are rising above the Our criminal justice system has several someone's life as punishment, r feel is not they did, but who gives them the power over murderers, but in fact, by creating such a functions. They include punishment, deter- right. But, if the purpose of taking everyone else to say which people die? You double standard, we are sinking below them. renee, rehabilitation, and protecting soci- someone's life is to ensure the safety of oth- can say that McVeigh did it out ofvengeance By administering the death penalty we ety, Of these, one of them provides II con- ers, then it is justified. of human kind. are claiming authority and stepping in for vincing reason to employ the death penalty. Ido not think that rehabilitation should But where does that leave us when we kill God. This shows to me that we have no re- That is protecting society. be considered for the most dangerous of our McVeigh? Are we justified because we are spect for mankind anymore. Having the ]f a person does not hesitate tok.iU a law society because there does not exist a highly only killing the crazy sick one who deserves power to kill another human being is an in- enforcement agent, as with the case of'Ri- successful method. to die when c r e d i bl e chard and Weseley Moore who shot Police In the process of finding rehabilitation, he killed We as a society may think we're doing amount of officer Bruce Prothero. then what is going he or she would continue to be a threat to many inno- power. No to prevent he or she from killing anyone society. This poses a danger in and of it- cent ones? right by taking out the one who is evil, human be- who gets in his or her way when trying to self. It is because of the purpose of execut- Eve r y but because we are taking him out, we ing should escape. ing dangers to soci- human be- ever hold Thus. incur- ety that I support ing de- in turn are the evil ones. that much ceratlon is not •• .incarceration is not the execution of serves to power. By taking control of the killing we are ;~u:~~:~~~l~ enough to ensure that a any ;~~: ~~~sl:ndes ~;~r~:ei:hc~~~:~'~~~m~~:~I~~a~I~~t~~;~ shutting out the way' the world was meant to not kill again. person will not kill again. the legally insane. meditated, state-sanctioned killing is justifl- be, at the hands of Mother Nature. It is the people Ifa person is insane able under any circumstances. The core of the problem is our society. who pose a particularly dangerous threat to and does not know right from wrong then The death penalty brutalizes us. It is an You see, we are doing nothing to stop this society who need to be executed. These he or she is a danger to society. Ifbe or she indication of how little our government val- kind of senseless killing we claim is legiti- people include people who kill law enforce- has gone so far as 10 murder someone, then ues human life. Putting 'the right to kill' at matized. It is almost too late to change any- ment agents, or kill people in mass nurn- such dangerous behavior has been dis- the hands of the government is a great dan- thing, because the core of our society's prob- bers. played. ger. lems goes to our morals and values, which For example. Timothy McVeigh who J, too, am looking forward to May 16, Letting our government act as our God have been going continuously downhill. killed hundreds in a bombing, Richard 2001. Because I, too, will know that at least who decides who dies shows how unstable Instead of simply killing off the people Moore who murdered a police officer, and one more person will not be a risk of bomb- we are as a society. who kill, we should create support systems Steven Okan, who kiUed three women, all ing a building when you or I may be inside Beyond letting our government kill people for these people in society to make them deserve to be executed. of it. Knowing that Timothy McVeigh will is the fact that many times these are the inno- better people. Some contend that capitol punishment be executed makes me feel safer and that cent who are being killed. Consider this ... Supporting the death penalty is like sup- is too expensive as a result of funding the the criminal justice system is doing what it Since 1973,90 people on death row were re- porting no real cause. Killing a few hundred automatic appeals and incarceration. An ex- should do to protect society. leased after evidence emerged showing their people every few years does nothing for our ample is Steven Howard Oken, who has On the other hand. I am satisfied that innocence, according to Amnesty lntema- society. We may like to think that' we are been on death row in Maryland since J 987 Richard Spicknell did not receive the death tional against the Death Penalty. killing the people who make society bad; when he murdered three women. penalty and will spend the rest of his life in Once an innocent person is killed, there instead, we are just brushing the problem J concede that it is very costly to pros- jail. r am confident that him being behind is no way to correct the wrong. aside. ecute a capitol offence, however, this is the bars will prevent him from hurting anyone We as a society may think we're doing Supporting the death penalty shows that price of being sure that an innocent person ever again. right by taking out the one who is evil, but as human beings we care nothing for the is not wrongly executed. On the contrary, I do not think that limo- because we are taking him out, we in tum are rights of other humans. If we are killing oth- Also, this is the cost that is demanded thy McVeigh or Richard Moore behind bars the evil ones. ers for killing others, it seems to me we have to ensure that a.ll of society is protected from would be as safe a measure as necessary Contrary to popular belief, execution is not ultimately failed as human beings. No one each of these dangerous persons. Quanti- because of the crimes that they committed. cheaper than life in prison. Imprisonment, can justify killing another person because fying consequences should be impartial to according to the Economist journal article, that is simply not our moral nature. cost. -Amy Bittinger is a senior mathematics "Cruel and Ever more Unusual". Aftertriais .• I am not interested in using capitol pun~ major. appeals, reviews and years on death row, ex- -Joan Faulkner is ajunior communication between ecutions cost three major. and six times The Simpsons: what continues to make it so popular? Michael Jenkinson expresses his "Cheers," longer than "Seinfeld," and yes, the show. Over the last 12 years the show has presence of Darth Vader. It was subtle, yet reasoning for why the show has even longer than ''The Michael Richards" created 100's of characters. A large number extremely funny and very memorable. Plus remained so successful. show. But why is the show so popular and of these, from Krusty the Clown to Chief it helped new viewers understand that Burns suCcessful? The original plan of the show Wigum, to Moe Szyslak, have developed their is considered to be eviL I feel it's time for people to realize a cul- was to feature Bart Simpson as the trouble- own personal history and in depth characters. Another aspect of the show's greatness tural phenomenon that has gone unappreci- making youngster. It didn't take fans long to However you don't need to watch the show is the people who do the voices. Dan ated for years. I'm talking about the people take their eyes off the shorts eating young every week to get a chuckle from watching a Castellaneta, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer of Springfield, specifically ''The Srmpsons'' boy and start paying closer attention to the new episode. and others have all been with the show for and their hit TV show. true star of the show, Homer. I think the greatest strength overall has it's entire run. The continuity helps keep the Remember this is the show that chal- Homer defines a true man. He's fat, stu- been those that we don't even see. The writ- show special. And their timing in what they lenged "The Cosby Show's" well estab- pid, lazy, and doesn't really care about any- ers (of which, late night talk show host Conan do is incredible. No one can make the word lished 8:00 Thursday night time-slot and one but himself. He has shown a soft side O'Brien was once) display on a regular basis D'oh sound funny like Castellaneta. forced the show right off the air. for his wife and kids on occasion, but Homer that they are intelligent people. And some- It's amazing 10 see how a show that Back then, FOX had the courage to chal- is at his best when he's relentless. times it's the little details that some might started as a set of vignettes on The Tracy lenge Cosby's stranglehold of what is con- Homer has a cult following, which is es- not even notice thai fill out the charm of the Ulman show has turned into one of the long- sidered the number one time-slot for net- pecially popular on college campuses. More show. est, most successful TV series of all time. works. And make no mistake about it, "The then once I have enjoyed the better part of a An example of this being the portrayal of Thankfully there doesn't appear to be any Simpsons" drove Cosby off of network TV. Friday night sitting with friends and recant- the evil Mr. Burns. Once on the show, they end in sight. The show remains popular. The show has now lasted for 12 years. ing out favorite Homer-isms. were starting a scene with Bums and they No small feat by any means. This time pe- Homer has help though. From the entire played the "March of the Empire", the evil -Michael Jenkinson is a junior sociology riod means that the show lasted longer than town of Springfield, the fictional setting of music from Star Wars used to indicate the major.