Death Penalty

8th Amendment and the Death Penalty This topic of the death penalty really hits home for me because I’m going through this right now in my own life. On June 7, 2012 my sister was murdered in her home. I would say what he did to her was pretty gruesome but there of course have been worse crimes. Just like the video in class like Huntsville, Texas, North Carolina also has an active death penalty sentence. I was very pleased to hear about the death penalty because I wanted this man who killed my sister to get punished the way he deserves it. Unfortunately, in order to receive the death penalty, you must be able to prove that the murder was pre-meditated. This is something that my family and the attorney are unable to prove. In the video, we got to look into the life of a death row inmate, Timothy Gribble, who was being executed for raping two women, and then killing them. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be sitting in jail knowing that in two weeks you would be no longer living, and with no choice of your own. But since I have been through everything that I had with my sister’s murder, I absolutely understand what it is like to be part of the victims’ family. The hurt, confusion, and misunderstanding why a person would do something like this to someone you love to almost too much to bear at some points. There are many reasons why people are for the death penalty. Some of those reasons are, the death penalty gives closure to the victim's families who have suffered so much. Another, our justice system shows more sympathy for criminals than it does victims. I mean, if you think about it, a hot meal every day, a bed to sleep in, and a roof over your head. That is all a luxury when in reality you have taken someone’s life. You made that decision for them. In the video, we learned about how people are constantly protesting on the day of the executions. Some reasons why people are against the death penalty are financial costs. Taxpayers argue that is