Joesph Paul Franklin is/was a serial killer who will be sentenced to death on Wednesday by lethal injection. He has been locked up and kept away from the civilized world for over 30 years now. He has killed approximately 22 people according to the article on CNN. He grew up in Alabama with poverty, was abused and neglected. He said he was on a mission and when asked about what this mission is he stated "to start a race war". "Franklin spent 1977 to 1980 trying to accomplish that goal, committing more than a dozen bank robberies in addition to the murders. He stalked his victims, usually finding a sniper's nest yards away, looking down the scope of a high-powered rifle to kill his targets at will". He says that the neglect he took as a child then stunted his mental health and growth because he has always been about 10 years of maturity behind people his age mentally. Now I know that the death penalty is a very controversial issue due to some saying it is inhumane and some saying that it is them that did the crime and they must suffer consequences. So I am going to ask you what you guys think, do you think that the death penalty is right or wrong and why. In my own opinion I am for the death penalty because they have committed crimes serious enough to be put on death row and they should suffer the consequences for it. I also highly recomend reading the article because it gives a lot of good info about his background.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/18/justice/death-row-interview-joseph-pa...
Replies
Interesting topic! Be sure to break info into shorter paragraphs though and be sure to reply to people's comments!
I am personally in favor of the death penalty, because if the criminals don't have any serious punishment to look forward to they will do bad things and if there is not a death penalty they will just keep doing everything bad.
I think the Death Penalty is good in certain situations... For some people living with the guilt of your crimes your entire life while wasting away in jail seems worse than being put to death and having it all over with... and then for others dying seems like the best and easiest way out... It all depends on the person... Personally, I think wasting away in jail for years seems a lot worse than being put on death row... Also if you're on death row you're separated from the other prisoners and you have your own private cell, which is a huge step above being put with the other prisoners who would probably harass and torment you if you're not put on death row and just serving a life sentence... In my opinion serving a life sentence is way worse than being put on death row, but like I said it all depends on the person.
I think this is major problem in the world a lot today. People are verbally and physically abused and neglected growing up, so it just messes up their outlook on life and makes them feel worthless. I think in these sort of situations it is good to think about a mental hospital. This would be a good option, because it would help the patients talk through their problems, and eventually realize life is worth it all. In this certain case though I think the death penalty is the right decision. This man just killed so many and robbed so much for such an unlogical reason, and I think it would have been almost impossible to change his mindset, because he was so dead set on his beliefs. If he were to be sent to a facility for help, there was probably a good chance he would have got out and went back to causing more destruction.
If he is guilty of committing 22 murders and over a dozen bank robberies, then I think that death row is a proper punishment. Why should he live when 22 others died by his hand? Franklin deserves what he gets.