Death Penalty

The death penalty always brings up unanswerable questions – for me, anyway.

If it was my loved one who was tortured/abused/murdered/left to suffer/dead at the hands of another person, would I have any care or concern for the safety/well-being/comfort of the person found guilty of the crime?

Probably not.

Would I lose sleep at night wondering if the conviction was wrong and the person convicted was innocent?

Probably not.  

And if my loved one was the murderer/torturer/sociopath who committed vile acts against another person, would I have compassion and concern for how they were treated, despite the crime they committed?

Probably.

Would I forever wonder if they were really innocent of the crime they were convicted of?

Probably.

An Ohio inmate was recently executed by lethal injection with a new drug combination that, it seems, took 25 minutes to actually end his life. Newspaper reports describe his clenched fists, gasping respirations and heaving abdomen while he was dying. This serves as proof for many as a cruel way to die … a legal murder that took longer than it should. His family (who I also consider victims) stood by and watched the person they love, in spite of his conviction for the rape and murder of a woman, endure prolonged suffering while the state put him to death.

Discussions of Eighth Amendment violations (no cruel and unusual punishment allowed in civilized society) have begun, and law suits will, no doubt, soon emerge.

As with all social, moral, ethical issues, people are divided. I have read comments ranging from calls for the justice system to never let this happen again, to zero empathy for the inmate, to remembrance of the murder victim, to calls to end the death penalty once and for all.

I guess I’m wimping out on making a real decision about how I stand on this one. 

The billion-dollar pharmaceutical industry has perfected death penalty drug cocktails that can kill people instantly but, ironically, European drug sales of these amazing kill-you-instantly lethal injections is being blocked because of pressure from groups opposed to the death penalty. (This suggestion that drug companies are letting protestors dictate the sale of lethal injection drugs and, in effect, their bottom line seems odd to me, but I honestly have no in-depth knowledge of this).  

This whole situation seems lose-lose for everyone.