Summary: The Place For Vengeance

“An eye for an eye, makes the whole world blind” -Ghandi.
Every human has an innate desire to seek vengeance when they or their loved ones are victimized. Justice can be achieved, however, without resorting to vengeance and cruelty. The separation between justice and vengeance is very distinct: On the one hand, justice may not satisfy one’s emotions, but it will ultimately lead to the right decision in the long run; on the other hand, vengeance, may give one self satisfaction, and feel as if it is providing closure, but may result in the victim feeling empty, and making it difficult for them to move on. In the article “The Place for Vengeance,” written by Shannon Brownlee and Dan McGrath, the authors discuss the emotional and mental impact
For example, when Aba Gayle lost her 19 year- old daughter (who was mentioned earlier), the DA and sheriff’s department reassured Gayle that they were on a hunt to murder the man who murdered her daughter. She explains how they said: “‘We are going to convict him, and when we have an execution, you will be healed.’ ‘And I believed them.’ Gayle now regrets that and is fighting to keep her daughter’s killer from being executed” (The Place for Vengeance, 3). Gayle believed that if her daughters killer was executed, her sorrow would be healed, and she would be able to proceed with her life. But, what she found out over time was that her pain will never be fully healed, whether her daughters killer is executed, or tortured and then executed. By torturing the killer, it will cause her to have more self satisfaction, but overall, straight execution will be safer for society and keep her more at ease, than if he was still alive, and just sentenced to life in prison. In addition, Florida therapist Lula Redmond states her personal opinion on execution as a whole. She states that: “More often than not, families of murder victims do not experience the relief they expected to feel at the execution. ‘Talking a life doesn't fill that void, but it’s generally not until after the execution [that the families] realize this. Not too many people will honestly [say] publicly that it didn’t do much, though, because they’ve spent most of their lives trying to get someone to the death chamber” (The Place for Vengeance, 4). Many people believe in the ‘eye for eye’ method, which states that the punishment should mimic the crime. Therefore, in this situation, if someone was to murder someone else, the victim of that murder would want the killer executed. These families are so grief stricken by the situation, that they don’t think about due process and civil