The Ethics of the Death Penalty Concerning the Clutter Murders

Today as we congregate to decide the ethics of bestowing the death penalty upon two men, we consider the reasons for why these men deserve to die. The American judicial system uses this penalty to offer justice to those that are affected by devious acts. Hickock and Smith undeniably seem to deserve the death penalty. Each of these felons on death row will not be able to commit any more crimes on this earth. But do they deserve to meet their death at the hands of the court? Not long ago, in 1959, Richard “Dick” Hikcock and Perry Smith committed a gruesome and unforgivable, sinful horror: murdering four innocent members of a small town family in Kansas. The owners of a crop farm, these people did no wrong to their community, and were humans who upheld the morals of the Methodist community, which is a religion they so devoutly practiced. In order to obtain an amount of money out of a safe the murderers believed was inside of the house, the two men used a shotgun to take down all four members of the Clutter family, and sliced the throat open of the patriarch, Herbert “Herb” Clutter. After the indescribably horrible incident, we sit here today and decide if the Kansas community will watch the slayers of the beloved Clutter family be hanged and killed, as a result of their actions the night of November 15th, 1959. The question to be raised as we decide how justice will be paid to the Clutter family, is what is the morality behind bestowing death upon those who bestowed death upon others? Upon a basis of morals, ethics, and logic, my professional opinion on this matter is that the death penalty in the instance of the Clutter murders is not a viable option punish the killers after their acts. In general, the death penalty in the United States is not effective at deterring criminals from committing intolerable acts. Heaven or hell: a religious concept brought to bring peace upon those pondering the reality of death. While humans can create whatever scenarios in their minds to justify the idea that death awaits, it is inevitably for certain to come. The universe will bestow a wrongdoer a life worthy of their actions, and by us, as a court, deciding to grant these men an escape of death, we are not allowing karma to punish these men. Hebrews 9:27 - “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” These men have decided under their own lucid consciousness to take life away from the beloved Clutter family. As we meet together to decide on a punishment for their action, why do we repeat what they have done, even though we prohibit it? Why should we try to mimic the power of God, by choosing who lives and who dies? As a community, we have the power to incarcerate these felons for the rest of their lives, and prohibit them from receiving parole. Your honor, and the jury- I am asking you to not allow these men an escape to an uncertain future through the death penalty, and to give them a certain future of a life of personal torture and confinement. We are humans. We are mortal. We do not know what lies beyond this life, the only thing we can control is how we spend our mortal life. Granting these men the escape of death from the moral life they have committed a felony in will give them the easy way out. As Herb Clutter suffered in his own basement with a slit throat, these men must suffer the same. The death penalty is not a punishment, more of a premature forgiveness. They deserve to be incarcerated for the rest of their time on this earth. As far as I am concerned, Perry Smith is still living in a residential home as part of his confinement, and Hickock is in a cell in the prison. These men must be removed from a county jail and be placed in a maximum security prison, where they are placed in solitary cells and forced to live with the notion that their legacy will be known as murderers with a lust for blood, who used their time on this earth to cause suffering. Why are we wasting time as a court deciding whether or not these men should be killed, allowing these men to be around people, when they should be rotting away in a cold, uncomfortable cell? No matter what religion you practice, or even if you practice a religion at all, it should be apparent to every person in this courtroom that no matter what the outcome of this decision is, these men will never be able to say they did not commit this murder. Let these men inevitably suffer as a result of their actions. None of us are allowed to rule how their fates will play out except for the universe. Playing with fate could only give them an escape from their punishment. As Genesis 3:19 goes: “By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are; and to dust you will return.” Judge, you came from dust, and will return to dust. Every person in this courtroom was created from dust, and unto dust we will return. None of us are better than anyone else under the eyes of the universe, and none of us should be able to decide the fate of others. No matter what social class or position you take in this society, your position is equivalent to everyone else on earth. I leave you with this: give justice to the Clutters by not giving escape to these men. The Clutters unwillingly made their way into an afterlife none of us understand at the hands of these men. These men do not deserve the escape of leaving this life they have decided to poison by partaking in this act of murder.