Recently, the Nebraska Department of Corrections received the last of its drugs to execute the death penalty. They drug was imported from a company in India. It is said that they first inject inmates with 3 grams of sodium thiopental. After one minute they check to see if he/she is conscious and if she is they inject them with another 3 grams. Once confirmation of unconsciousness is given, the inmate is injected with two other drugs to stop the heart. Nebraska received 500 grams of the drug at which it cost $2,056.
Is it worse to have to rot in jail knowing what you did or to be executed and not have to think about it or even worry about it? Is it right to kill someone? What if they are innocent? Would you be able to live with yourself if you killed someone for something they didn't even do? These are my issues with the death penalty, even if it is "only" lethal injection.
I think people who do wrong and are worthy of the death penalty should be punished, not by killing them, but by causing them pain and suffering. I don't mean by ways of torture, but by solitary confinement or therapy sessions that make them think about what they have done. I think it's worse to sit and rot in jail knowing what you have done than to be sentenced to death and be put out of your misery.
I find the death penalty wrong in many ways. I don't see how someone could intentionally kill someone else. I know the person being executed most likely killed someone or some others, but it does not justify your actions to kill them. Just because they did it does not mean we have to do it. I think we should be able to rise above it and not stoop to the level of murder. I believe America is better than that. That sounds cliche, I know, but I think it's true. People around the United States say we need to control our citizens and reduce crimes such as murder, but how can we do that when our own government won't?
