The major legal aspect related to DC Snipers case is the issue of death penalty. Thus, there was controversy whether John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo who were serial killers involved in the case should receive the death penalty. Even though John Lee Malvo was only 17 he could still get the death penalty in Maryland and Virginia.
Those who support capital punishment have three major arguments. First, capital punishment should be justified because it serves as deterrence of crimes. In other words, fear of death causes people to deter from committing crimes.
Second, life in prison would mean more costs to the tax payers, not to mention cost of feeding and housing the prisoner for life. Some tax payers would feel disappointed if their family member was murdered and their tax money was going to support the murderer. Besides, the prisons are overcrowded already.
Third, capital punishment improves public security. Placing a murderer on a life sentence would mean they would be eligible for parole and who’s to say that if that person gets back on the streets they won’t kill again.
Personally, I believe that capital punishment is a waste of human life. No matter how many criminals one kills in order to avenge someone’s death, the victim is not going to come back. The victim won’t be able to know what has happened and their family is still going to be mourning their death for time and time to come. Killing the murderer might give the family some comfort in knowing that s/he can no longer harm anyone, but in reality, who can be comforted by the death of someone? Besides, capital punishment is not a deterrent. The crime rate hasn’t gone down since capital punishment came into play. In fact, if anything, the rate has been slowly increasing.
Also, an innocent person can be convicted of a crime and put to death at anytime. The world is not perfect and everyone makes mistakes. Taking an innocent life in order to put a family at ease is not justice. It is still what you would call murder. Who would be able to bring back the life of the one that the government killed. Would they be able to live with themselves knowing they did wrong? But then again, if you look on the other side, taking one life is nothing compared to taking 300 lives all in one.
Some say that capital punishment brings out the blood thirst and vengeance in humans and in some cases, this can be true. For example, when some one is murdered, the people closest to the victim would want revenge. They would want the murdered dead as well. This can be true only if we go around killing everyone who has murdered at least once in their life, but that is not what this system is about. Although, in one point of view, it does look like vengeance, it can be justice as well. If the murderer has committed many murders, then this would be avenging not just one family, but also the families of all the victims.
