So today I was watching a documentary about men on the death penalty in Indiana and after hearing everyone's stories and the crimes they've committed and what jail meant for them and how they have all grown and learned and matured from these experiences I wanted to cry or something. Like, I know what they did was morally wrong and in many ways evil, just the whole video was really sad, because they had a whole new/unseen side of them that no one saw. Like, many of them had hard childhoods and grew up poor or were perhaps abused or where perhaps in a gang because they had no where to turn to. They've also said that prison time made them really think about what they did wrong and really helped them mature, and as a result many have come to accept their punishments and a couple actually said that they firmly believed that they deserved the death penalty. After watching the whole video I just felt really sad. I mean, I've never agreed with the death penalty and I actually am very against it; however I understand that the crimes these men committed was wrong and I understand why some people support the death penalty. The documentary even interviewed some officers/guards who deal with men on death row daily and a couple said that there were characteristics which were "friendly and attractive" that these men had and believed that they were not fully bad, and said there were some good in them despite the crimes they've committed. There was actually one guard who sometimes took time to talk to these men on death row and said a couple of them were his friends. What really broke my heart though was at the end of the video where the superintendent of the jail and this other guy who basically gave out the actual execution were being interviewed about this one man who was on death row because he killed a mother and her daughter (he's actually going to be next in the execution chamber). Basically they talked about how much change they noticed in him and how he became a vey wise, very good person and really learned from his crime and they even admitted that they saw the man as a "very good friend". However, the "executioner" also said that their job was to give out executions ordered by the state and admitted that he hated his job and it broke his heart when he had to execute someone, and said he's going to especially hate the day where he will execute the man who killed the mother and her daughter.
After watching the video I really wanted to cry because I felt so sad for them. I know what they did was wrong, but I don't believe in execution, because they're basically saying"ok....don't kill someone, and because you did that, you're going to be punished" yet they go and do the same thing.
Now, the video had really been bothering me and I feel so
Sad help