Justice

So, I was watching A&E today when I came home for lunch after work. They had on one of those Cold Case File shows on. They're really interesting, but I find I get a little too fired up from watching those. But when you hear about what I saw, you'd understand. One story was about this lady, Andrea Yates, who drowned her 5 children in the bathtub. She claimed she did it so that they could go to heaven. Clearly this woman was insane, and everyone knew it. She confessed to murdering her children and she knew it was against the law and that it was a sin. So it's not like she didn't know the difference between wrong and right (which I still have opinions on, but won't go into). It wasn't even spontaneous. She carefully planned it out. The jury found her guilty and she was sentenced to 40 years in prison w/ a chance for parole. As much as that annoyed me, it gets worse. There was some problem w/ one of the expert psychologists that testified. Something to do w/ a Law and Order episode that never existed... didn't quite catch that. But because of this, they had another trial and she was found not guilty by reason of insanity. What the crap?! It should be 'guilty, by reason of insanity'. She was put in a psychiatric ward and given medication with a chance to get out if they feel she will no longer be a threat to society. Why? The death penalty is not just a preventative measure to ensure someone doesn't kill again. It is a means of justice. It is a way to pay for the crimes which have already been committed. You can't just discard the fact that she murdered her own 5 children and let her go because she "won't do it again". There's a clear fire way she won't do it again. It's called the death penalty. There are times when judgment must be passed. We have a just God, who will show the appropriate balance of justice and mercy when that day comes.

Another case I saw that infuriated me even more was one concerning Bill Major. This 'man' is disgusting. He molested his own 2 children, a son and a daughter. Back in the 80's his wife disappeared and he was the #1 suspect, but no evidence could ever be found. It wasn't even until years after his wife's disappearance that he was finally arrested and convicted of child molestation. He had threatened his children saying if they didn't do what he told them he would kill their sibling. His son finally went to the authorities, which wasn't even until he was 13. But get this, he was only sentenced to 11 years! Then he was released! By this time a skull had been found near where he used to live in Kentucky. The jaw had been removed so there was no way of obtaining any information since it was before DNA testing broke through. Finally, some years later, they were able to prove the skull belonged to his wife. He had shot her in the head, decapitated her, removed her jaw and disposed of the body and her car in the Ohio river. It went to trial and he got sentenced to life in prison. What the crap? Who's idea was it to even have a life sentence? He should've been executed when he was convicted of child molestation. The death penalty should be applied to murders (of any kind), rapists, and child molesters.

I feel very strongly about this. I was yelling at the t.v. like Dad does when he's watching football. It makes me more determined to go into forensics. Not only do I get to use my interests and skills in biology, but I'll hopefully be able to bring about some justice through my work.