Reply #33: execution [View All]

[Kailassa]

One concern with the death penalty is, what effect does the execution have on the people who have to carry it out?

I was once in the position of having no way to be safe from someone I knew to be a killer but to kill him while he slept. He had bashed me before he fell asleep so badly I was unrecognisable, so if I told the police I had done it while he was punching me, I would have got off scot free. but when faced with the reality of killing someone, I couldn't do it, the prospect of doing such a thing was worse than all the things I had had done to me.

I believe that killing is as unnatural as suicide, and will damage part of what is human in whoever does it. This might seem insulting to soldiers, but it's not meant that way. I'm no pacifist, some things need to be defended. But killing still damages the killer as well, which is why returning soldiers need our compassion and respect and solid work done to help them reintegrate into society.

When a death sentance is passed, government employees are left "holding the baby". Sometimes the sentence may be well deserved, but no-one deserves to have the responsability of carrying it out.

Btw, my attacker only got 6 months jail, but he made so many enemies in that time that he'll probably have forgotten me long before he's dealt with them.