Tags
capital punishment, Clayton Lockett, divergent, execution, guilt, innocence, insurgent, murder, oklahoma, pro-life, Veronica Roth
In light of the botched execution of Clayton Lockett, that took place in Oklahoma, this past week, I feel that the need for a discussion of capital punishment is needed. I’ve been spending the past day and a half reading Insurgent, the sequel to Veronica Roth’s Divergent. One of the most touching scenes in the entire book is Tris’ walk to execution, on the cool, metal bed provided by the calculated Erudite, that would be her last. All that came to mind for me was the green mile that so many inmates, innocent or guilty, take in many states. Although her death is real for the reader for only one and a half pages, it is still poignant.
The clinical, unemotional, experimental death is one that our country seems to have gotten used too . If someone’s head isn’t being chopped off or if their body isn’t being fried by insane amounts of electricity, it is somewhat humane and dignified. The state has taken the place of God and has been given the right to determine whether an eye for an eye is the right path to take in light of murder.
I, personally, disagree. I am pro-life. Yes, I know commonly that brings to mind lunatics standing at the capitol with signs against abortion and women’s rights, but I honestly don’t believe in taking the life of any person, whether it be through war, capital punishment, or (until science proves when life begins) through abortion. Sure it puts me on the fringes of my democratic friends, but who cares.
Living in the mind of one about to be executed, specifically Tris’, humanizes the entire situation. If we as a society feel that murder should be dealt with retribution, then let the people effected by the violence pull the trigger, for really they were the one’s effected, not society. I think when you pin individuals against individuals the outcome, more than not, will be forgiveness not more violence, because honestly murdering a murderer will never bring the innocent back. Instead, it will only breed more victims.
Thanks for listening…
Thoughts and Ramblings 