Cruel And Unusual Punishment

Due to the many complaints by death row inmates, the U.S. Supreme Court is looking into the constitutionality of death by lethal injection. I know I'm sounding like a softie here, but it's high time someone heard the cries of the condemned.

Imagine spending 10 years in a cramped cell and contemplating your own death? The day is slow in coming, but it will come. Images of being strapped to a gurney and wheeled into the death chamber must be horrific. Then, the worst happens. The needles. The dreaded needles. The skin is pricked and a deadly combination of drugs are introduced into the body of the poor, defenseless soul. It has to be years of nightmares as this moment is lived over and over in the inmate's mind. It touches a real soft spot in my heart.

This method of torture should be banished from our penal system. It proves to the rest of the world just how barbaric and uncivilized we really are. I have a better solution, one that I'm sure will be met with enthusiasm by those waiting out their sentence.

Perhaps it's time we bring back the old eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth form of punishment. What convict, if truly guilty of the crime, would argue with that? Let the person die as the victim did. Apparently, the criminal mind identifies with that method. After all, he or she used that same method to end the life of another. They see nothing wrong with it. Merely inserting a needle is not dignified. Let them face the end of their own life with the same look in their eyes that the victim(s) had. Let them feel what the victim felt. Let them repeat the words that their victim said as their final breaths were taken. Let them know how it feels to die as their victim died.

Using a needle is indeed cruel and unusual punishment. What about a gun? A knife? An ax? How about hands that are squeezed tightly around the throat? What about gasoline and matches? Apparently, these forms of death appeal more to the one sitting in his death row cell.
Grant his wish. Too many of us suffer from needlephobia and it needs to be banned.

In the criminal mind, the victim's death was not cruel and unusual. Reenact the original crime scene and our inmates can play their 10-year waiting game with peace of mind.