Off With His Head?

Remember Major Nidal Malik Hasan? The military physician who fatally wounded 13 fellow comrades at Fort Hood last year? He currently faces 13 counts of murder and perhaps the death penalty.

Is the death penalty legitimate? Some people say it's too extreme, that it's inhumane to end a person's life because of a crime. Everyone deserves second chances.

In my opinion, I don't really think that all people deserve second chances. I can argue about this topic for hours, but that argument wouldn't come to anything, because both sides of the argument are in their own way, correct. But when I think about it, if I were to put myself in somebody else's shoes, say the shoes of a family member who's family was killed by a maniacal murderer, I wouldn't want to forgive that person for doing what he/she did. Though people say that time heals everything, we must learn to forgive and forget? I'm not so sure it would be possible to be so rational after losing every person who was important to me.

The death penalty isn't used randomly, it's a punishment for those who deserve it. Whether or not you agree with what defines a crime deserving of death, the death penalty is still there. Throughout history, some form of the death penalty has existed, and for good reason. Time doesn't heal everything; neither does revenge. But sometimes, people need to understand that crimes don't go unpunished. There's always something worse than jail.