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The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

The University of Utah's Independent Student Voice

The Daily Utah Chronicle

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Want your voice to be heard? Submit a letter to the editor, send us an op-ed pitch or check out our open positions for the chance to be published by the Daily Utah Chronicle.
@TheChrony
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Death Penalty Needs to Be Enforced Consistently

Death+Penalty+Needs+to+Be+Enforced+Consistently

Capital punishment is an extremely sensitive matter. The death penalty is given to those who commit treason, terrorism, espionage, murder, large-scale drug trafficking and attempting to kill a witness, juror or court officer. The death penalty needs to start being given consistently to people guilty of these crimes.

Gary Gilmore was found guilty of murder in 1976 and was executed in 1977. However, The Green River killer Gary Ridgway — who is believed to have murdered at least 71 women — is still alive and serving a life sentence in a Colorado prison. Samuel Little, who is known to have killed three people and is suspected of having additional victims, is also still alive and serving three life sentences. This seems wildly inconsistent. If someone is executed for killing two people in the United States, shouldn’t those who have killed two (or more) receive the same punishment if they reside in the same country?

The death penalty goes against the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person,” as the document states. So even though murderers are murderers, they themselves still have the right to their own lives. Even when there’s a Ted Bundy-like situation where the accused keeps breaking out of prison and can’t stay contained, according to the United Nations they should not technically be punished with death.

The death penalty is unfortunately still being used and is being used chaotically. The death penalty should either be used consistently or not at all. The biggest admitted serial killer in American History is still alive, but George Masterson was given the death penalty for the murder of one man, despite evidence — after the lethal injection was given — indicating that it was unclear Masterson had committed the murder at all. Brandon Jones, another man to receive the death penalty in 2016, was 72 and the oldest man to be killed by the state. Jones was convicted of the murder of a single person about 30 years before. Jones and a friend were trying to rob a convenience store when a clerk working there was shot.

Of the 20 death sentences in 2016, nine were served in Georgia and seven death sentences were served in Texas. A life for a life sounds fair, but not when the law is so egregiously inconsistent. Why is Ridgway still alive?

Murder is wrong and I know that. I want to clear that up right now. But if the death penalty isn’t even given to the most prolific serial killer in America, it definitely shouldn’t be given to a man for a single murder that he may not have even meant to commit. I believe that the death penalty should only be given, through a more objective and consistent national review process, if the murderer can’t be contained or if their murders were especially cruel. Otherwise, the United Nations needs to clarify and enforce in some way its statement that every person has the right to life.

A person shouldn’t be killed for selling drugs. And if terrorism is a crime punishable by death, the American government needs to rethink its conduct in foreign countries. Considering the death penalty is such a sensitive topic, it’s handed out rather thoughtlessly.

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  • J

    JoeNov 14, 2018 at 1:21 pm

    The American people are weak and I am a citizen of the United States I see that our government and its foundation of writing laws is never fulfilled but don’t let it be a bill that is owed to the government or the state then they will enforce it but the killing of a human being or a family member means nothing only that death if it is a famous person then is it is in force but the poor and middle class are overlooked in our society only the rich get Justice and people in politics speak for themselves it’s not the voice of the common citizen they are only there for one purpose to benefit themselves and their lives and their family members they go in poor and leave out rich with a lot of benefits that the American people pay our laws should be written as they are written by a forefathers not to be modified by 10,000 other meanings the last date very calmly and written in plain English but no one can follow and yes I speak the truth I had a family member murdered but the law is the law only politicians and rich people get to abide by those laws and getting there just deserve desserts meaning it is use for their advantage here where we live we don’t call law enforcement if anything is done they are useless law enforcement nowadays is a business it’s no longer serving the people is a multitrillion-dollar business that we as taxpayers pay and then now there is no facilities or anything that used to be free now it cost meaning the incarceration of a person that kills more than once more than twice more than a dozen times the taxpayer pays and there’s no sense this used for that

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