Death Penalty

            Enlightened Views of the Death Penalty .
             I can say without reservation that the work of Sister Helen Prejean has changed my views unlike any other intervention encountered in my brief life thus far. As a farm-boy raised in northwest Michigan, I was brought up to work hard, never do anything you cannot take back, and always know that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The ways of a Christian Reformed family have endowed me with my views of justice. I was taught that if you are willing to take a mans life, you had better know that your right to live has been forfeited. Life is a privilege; should you take that right from another, your right has hence been negated.
             Sister Prejean set out on a mission, to change the views of the world. She states that the only reason support for capital punishment continues is "that people don't know the truth of what is going on" (Prejean, 197.) Through her work with one man, Pat Sonnier, and the continued mission throughout her life, she has assuredly hit home with one reader. Dead Man Walking was written with the highest of intellectual standards, in a way which the reader feels no bias. She presents the facts, and they are undeniable. The United States is wrongfully killing its citizens as a result of inadequate legal defense, race, wealth, and the victim of their crime. The conglomeration of these factors creates a death penalty statute characterized by injustice and corruption that must be abolished. .
             In 1972, in Furman vs. Georgia, the Supreme Court ruled that state death penalty statutes where "totally lacking standards," and "therefore gave too much discretion to individual judges and to juries." In 1976, Gregg vs. Georgia upheld the ruling and the death penalty was reenacted. Since that time, (some) states have reinstated the death penalty, and through legislation, have attempted to correct the criticisms of the Supreme Court.