Death penalty #2

                It’s been proven that 80% of the inmates that are executed on death row are African American and it has also been proven that those with low incomes are more likely to be sentenced on death row. I think that it is true that justice isn’t blind. Even though America has changed drastically to make everyone equal, if you are a white American with a high paying income then you are more likely to be successful and then a person of color with a high paying income. I think that money gives us a lot of power. If you are poor and the court issues you a lawyer, that lawyer could be terrible, he could be racist, he could be known for losing a lot of cases. You have no choice but to settle for whatever lawyer is given to you. You are not always given a chance to pick the lawyer that you think will best represent your case. People with more money are more likely to not get sentenced to death row because they can afford better lawyers. Money has a lot to do with it. I know America is supposed to be free and equal to all but people still have stereotypes, people still categorize other people. It may not always be intentional but humans are very judgmental creatures. A lot of the time when people think of things like “gangs or rappers” they think of people of color. But that’s not always the case. There are people of all races that do those things. We are all guilty of it. I believe that even though people may judge other people or stereotype, they do not need to act on it. When you have a random jury of people, they may all have different beliefs and different morals. If you have someone who is racist in any way that does play a part in the outcome of the decision. Same thing if you were to have a feminist. People cannot always help the way they think but people can help how they act based on that thinking. There are not many people who can look at every situation and hold back their feelings and make a 100% unbiased opinion. It’s sad but it’s true. I don’t think this is fair. There are a lot of things in our legal system I don’t agree with. But complaining about it doesn’t fix anything. Actions do.

Death Penalty

Death penalty. Those who are convicted of a crimes such as brutal murder, murders that shock the community, involving the killing of a government official like a police officer are all actions that can make you eligible for the death penalty. After a person is accused and convicted of their crime they may have to go through a judicial session which is where they judicial court will determine fact or law. Before that court begins they will announce if they are seeking the death penalty or not.  I think that almost every method of the death penalty is cruel and unusual. Such as hanging. The inmate doesn’t die right away. They’re awake and alive and they feel everything. Their body just dangling there while they gasp for breathes while everyone just sits around and watches. I think it’s disgusting.  The firing squad, where 5 men just should the inmate with all of their bullets. I think that this is a little unusual. But I think it would be a relatively fast death. They get one bullet to their head they’re dead instantly and don’t feel a thing. The electric chair on the other hand is just down right inhuman. I can’t believe there are still places that use the electric chair. That is gruesome and disgusting. It inflicts soo much pain and the person doesn’t even die right away. The gas chamber I think is disgusting as well. Suffocated a person and burning their lungs. What isn’t cruel or unusual about that? The only method that I think isn’t cruel and unusual is the injections. The inmate is put to sleep right away. No pain, no cruel pain is inflicted. They are dead and that’s it. The lethal injections get the job down with inflicting pain or being cruel. I think that in order for you to eligible for the death penalty you have to meet really high standards. I don’t think anyone should ever take a life. But I do think that some people are just so evil and cold hearted that they don’t deserve to live. People who kill don’t have anything to offer society. They only hurt society. There should be no tolerance for those who maliciously kill people. It’s just not right. I’m sure that a lot of innocent people are put to death do. That’s why I think that the standards for being eligible for the death penalty should be a lot higher. We should not take away a life of anyone who could just the lightest tiniest bit, be innocent. It’s true that there are probable some inmates that are put to death who have a lot valuable talents and lot of people question that if they are really talented and can use their talents to help society then they should not be killed. My opinion, there is a LOT of talented people out there who give a lot to society who are probably more talented than those on death , but they don’t kill people. So whether a person is talented or not. If you kill someone. Pay the consequence.

Bullying

Washington, New york, and Massachusetts all have laws against bullying. But what draws the line between bullying, or just a disagreement, or dislike for someone? I think there is a very thin line between bullying and fighting with someone. I do think that having the law against bullying will help stop teens from bullying and help change a lot of lives but I also think the laws will hurt many lives. If I fight with my younger brother and I call him a weirdo, am is that considered bullying? Should I be penalized for calling him a name? Is it fair to punish me and put something on my record just because I had some sibling rivalry with my brother? What is considered bullying? I think that bullying is an awful terrible thing and I want to become a social worker or a high school counselor so I can help those that have been bullied to see that they can change their lives and make it better. I’m not saying that I’m ok with bullying at all. But should young teens really be severely punished for making childhood mistakes? Having anything on your record can hurt your chances of getting into college, getting a job. Children will fight and children will say mean things. No matter what it is going to happen and those kids should also be punished. The effects of bullying can be really traumatic and should be stopped. But the severity of the punishment is too much. I think there should be a really fine line between bullying and just not getting along with someone. I think that schools should put more severe rules against bullying so they can help stop it. Most bullying takes places in school. So that’s where our focus should be. If schools make rules like “if you are found bullying someone you will not get a co9llege recommendation.” Or “suspended”. I think that is enough to stop a lot of the bullying and not too severe to hurt the futures of young teens. They will see that bullying is not going to be accepted there and that they need to stop. If they don’t, then there will consequences. Bring the law into I think is going to hurt a lot of the lives and futures of young teens who are still growing up and making mistakes. I don’t they should be held accountable for mistakes that made as children, for the rest of their lives.

Drug Testing in Schools

Schools have strict policies about drugs. This is completely understandable. I know that some school do random drug testing on any of their students that participate in school activities to make sure they are drug free and are not using any performance enhancers. The way I feel about this is, you should have a reason to suspect the person of drug use before you can just drug test them. Also, many of the high school students that do take drugs aren’t in any clubs or sports because they are doing instead. I don’t think its fair to only test those students are showing an interest in after school activities. If your going to test anyone at the school then everyone should be acceptable to the drug testing. I feel like this could prevent many kids from doing drugs or continuing drugs but this could also backfire at the school. If many of the kids on sports are doing drugs and they rather keep doing drugs than continue their sport, then we could loose a lot of athletes. Also many high school athletes are allegeable to get scholarships for their athletic ability. If they get caught with a drug/drugs in their system and are therefore not allowed to continue in their sport I don’t think its worth risking their future over a silly mistake they made as a teenager. I think the schools really need to weigh out the pros and cons before they start doing something this drastic.

Gay rights

I completely support gay rights. You can’t help who you are or who you fall in love with. Who is to tell you who you can and can’t marry? I really believe that the heart wants what the heart wants. I don’t understand why some people are against gay rights. If you’re not the one getting married or in a relationship with someone of the same sex then mind your own business. Who other people marry or chose to love is not your problem. It in no way affects you. Who is to say that being straight is the right thing and being gay is wrong? Yes we need a male and a female to reproduce. That’s true, but what if people were meant to reproduce with the opposite sex and then fall in love with someone of the sex? Plenty of people and couples do that now and it works. I am 100% straight but I have no problem with people who are bisexual or gay. There is nothing wrong with it and it doesn’t effect my life in anyway so why not just let it happen. I think its wrong to hate a specific group of people or put down anybody who is different than you. I have no respect for the people that cannot accept specific groups of people based on sexual identity, race, sex or religion. That goes against all my morals. We are all human no matter who we love, what we look like and what our beliefs are. We need to be accepting of all people so our world can live in peace without hate. Accepting all gay rights will bring more peace to many people and influence other countries to do the same so everyone can get the chance to fall in love with whoever they chose. Everyone deserves to feel love and love whoever they want. Feeling love and belonging is one of our basic human needs.  

aranged marriage

In many countries and cultures arranged marriage is how they have always done it. They believe that marriage leads to love. In the U.S.  We believe that you fall in love and then you get married. It’s pretty interesting when you actually think about it. In the U.S. our divorce rates are crazy. Each year more and more people are getting divorced. In other countries like India and Africa they can’t understand why we are still doing marriage the way we are when we can see that a lot of our marriages are failing. How other countries do it is the parents find the person they want their child to be with. They find a person who was raised on the same morals, has a personality that would fit their child, they have things in common, they have money to support a family, same goals ext. they make sure that their children will be compatible with this person for a life time. Not just short term like us where we fall in love with who that person is currently and expect them to always be the same. That’s not very realistic. They’re marriages work because they find people who will grow and change together and have similarities and goals that will keep them together forever. I personally want to be able to fall in love and then get married and I hope that the person I marry is going to have the same long term goals as me so we don’t fall apart. But I do understand the concept of arranged marriage. It does make sense to me. People with arranged marriages do have lower divorce rates and end up falling in love with that person over time and end up extremely happy together. I don’t think arranged marriage is a bad method.

women's rights

I'm reading an incredible book by Rana Husseini called Murder in the Name of Honor. The book is about this journalist who travels to other countries that have a completely different culture then we have in the U.S. the journalist learns about how the women in other countries are treated. In Jordan their culture believe that women are less than men and in almost every scenario women are to blame. For example, if a young is raped, it is her fault for “seducing” the man who raped her. Therefore she is not the victim. Women who are raped are then killed by a family member to restore their family’s honor. In their culture by killing the one who was raped, they were doing it out of kindness because after she has been raped she cannot wed and will grow old and alone. Also the only way to remove the shame that has been caused is to kill the one who is bringing shame. This completely blows my mind. Rape is when someone is forced to have intercourse against their will. How could the women be seducing the man if she doesn’t want to have sex with him? It is clearly not the woman’s fault if she is found attractive and is then raped. It’s not rape if you want it to happen. Rape is a horrible disgusting thing that should never be allowed to happen. I cannot believe that the real victims are being found to blame because they attracted an evil person who raped them. After everything these victims have gone through they are still being betrayed by their own family and killed for something they had no control over. How could it possibly be ok or even encouraged to kill somebody? How are these people getting away with rape and murder? This isn’t right. Something needs to be done to stop this. I don’t care if this is their culture and that’s the way things have always been done. Killing and raping is WRONG. There’s no argument. Rape is never ok and it is never ok to punish the victim and not the person who assaulted them. What is wrong with these people?! We need to step in and help these women. This cannot keep going