A young woman of 23 peered at her two children in the backseat of her car and watched them sleep.  The eldest of the two children had just celebrated his birthday two weeks earlier.  The younger of the two was fourteen months.  Both of the boys continued to sleep; the car was parked above a boat ramp leading towards the vast body of water.  The boys continued to sleep.

The car was put into neutral and as the car started to roll, she tugged her emergency brake and stepped out of the car.  The women stood looking over John D. Long Lake, and thought about ending her life.  Instead she believed her sons would suffer less if they were killed.  In one swift action, the women released the emergency brake, and closed the driver side door.  She watched as the car rolled into the lake and filled with water.  Both of the bodies lied strapped in their car seats.  The women known as Susan Smith will never be forgotten.  What is Justice in cases like this?  What is societies job when innocent children, women, and men are killed in some of the most brutal ways possible? 

Philosopher John Locke, a man who greatly shaped the American society we live in today, would argue that, "when people commit crimes they forfeit their rights."  When people rob someone of their life they, "forfeit their right to life." 

People have the right to protection in the society we live in.  Opponents will argue that locking someone up for the rest of their lives is punishment enough for a killer, even a serial killer.  The fact of the matter is that, many law-breakers can beat the system, even while in prison.  They can appeal to higher courts and get out on parole long before their terms are up. 

Many will argue that rehabilitation is the most effective form of punishment, if you can call it punishment.  Rehabilitation for prisoners rarely works, and if it does, will it really redeem the criminal of the crime they originally committed?  Rex Krebs was a man who was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison.  While he was in prison he under two whole years of correctional treatment. He was later paroled  before his sentence was up and then went on two rape, torture, and murder two college girls (and buried them in his own backyard).  Did treatment really work in this case, tell me?  Rex Krebs is not the only one who beat the system.  Ted Bundy, Robert Nicholas, Billy Ray Hamilton, and Robert Alton Harris-   all these people beat the system.  Congratulations, you broke the judicial branch.  Every single one of these men were able to reduce their life in prison sentences for murder, or they were let out on parole.  Not only that but every single one of these men proceeded to commit murder, yet again.   

Laws, Judges, and cases change over time.  Life in prison doesn't always do the trick.  It's never done the trick, and it never will always do the trick.  It is our job as members of society to give people the right to life.  If that right is taken away from them by another person, then that person should brought to true justice. 

Regardless of what the left will tell you there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that the United States of America has wrongfully and unlawfully put anyone to death in the past century.  May I point out the thousands of law-abiding citizens are murdered each year by those released on parole.  These are convicted murders. 

Americans feel safer when we use capital punishment on crimes that call for the extreme action.  In a recent Gallop poll 74% of those surveyed said that they favored the death penalty for those who had been convicted of murder.  If this is what the American people want, it is the way it ought to be. 

As Thomas Paine, author of historical Common Sense said, "it is the American people who run the Government, not the Government running the American people."

Why do we need capital punishment?  Not only is it the best way to rid ourselves of the murderers who plague our society, but it keeps them off from harming your mother, your father, your family, or yes even you.  Let the punishment fit the crime, as most people would call for. 

What fits the crime of taking someone else's life.  I can tell you it is not sticking someone in a white room to talk to a therapist who can say, "why do you feel this way?" and, "you should feel this way..."  America has to do whatever it takes to keep people from invading the right to life.  We must ask ourselves, what is the most precious possession we hold true in American society, if it is not the right to life, then it is nothing at all.

USBP Toolbar

we apologize for the inconvenience. Our new interactive Toolbar will be here soon. Soon you will have the ability to do so much more with USBP articles.