Today, justice is supposedly going to happen for the family of the Rios-Martinez.
In 1991, Junny Rios-Martinez was raped & murdered by Mark Dean Schwab. In a series of trials, he was found guilty. In another series, he received a death sentence by request of the family & friends.
My thought is this: how can you send someone to his/her death?
I can understand the gravity of losing a loved one to rape & murder. I have had friends who were murdered simply because they were gay, or friends who were raped. But do I wish death upon those who pursued it? No. I cannot imagine putting myself in that position. I cannot imagine sending someone his/her grave simply right out of grief. I am not saying that murderers, rapists, and child molesters can get away for free, though. I do believe in life-long sentences in prison without any chances of paroles.
The whole idea of capital punishment has a great affect on me since 1997, when Matthew Shepard was murdered. I was in 8th grade at the time, and I was on the course of finding my own sexuality. This news terrified me and I was forced to keep myself in the closet. But watching the trials and reading the news, I was fascinated with the power of civilians, because they were able to tell others they "deserve" death for their wrongdoings. I believe that people do have a reason for these things, whether it's psychological instability or just abusing that power of taking someone else's life in their hands. But fortunately, the family of Matthew gave the prosecutors life instead of death.
HOWEVER, I do not agree that, in the years to follow, those two men who committed murder should get a parole. It's possible that it will happen again. History repeats itself, you know.
In addition, my mother & I had the opportunity to discuss about her experience of being on a capital murder trial in 1994 or 1995. She described it as a form of torture. She was handling the life of a man who was found guilty in an assistance of murdering two children. Every time the jury voted on the sentence, she put down "life in prison," rather than death. In the end, the man did get life in prison, but she was emotionally exhausted from all the trials & hardships of knowing that this man's life was in her hands.
But the whole idea of having the control to put someone to death just...petrifies me. I couldn't have that on my conscience. I couldn't have the idea that every day for the rest of my life I sent someone to death just out of revenge & anger & grief...it just doesn't seem right to me.
The only way I believe in killing someone is through self-defense.
But we live in a country where we demand everything in our own powers, and that's what makes this country such a terrible place to live. People abuse those powers out of greed, revenge, or grief. It's sad.
But I suppose that's the disadvantage of freedom as well...
So to sum this up, I think Schwab would be better off in getting a prison for life sentence. What can you learn from death? I think it is better to live on a guilt conscience if he has any. And will killing that person ever make the pain go away? No. Will killing him ever bring back the child? No. It doesn't solve anything, period.
And that's why I don't believe in death sentences.
