I have read the posts on the death penalty discussion by some of the other people in our class, and a common thought is that the death penalty should be acceptable as long as the ways the people are put to death are not cruel or unusual. However, there is something seriously disturbing that I find about this thought. The Constitution clearly states in the Bill of Rights that prisoners should not have cruel or unusual punishments placed upon them, not cruel or unusual deaths. Could it not be argued then, that death is a cruel or unsusual punishment? This all relates back to our unit on evil. While it may be argued that a person deserves death for something that they did which was so “evil” it could not be forgiven, it could also be argued that this person is only being put to death as a way of getting rid of something we are scared of and do not want to face. By eliminating our fears we are not getting a point across, if anything we are giving more power to this “evil” that lurks within the condemned person. Now, I am not saying I am against the death penalty, but I am saying that we should consider these actions more carefully before we impose punishments which reflect those actions of the very people who we are punishing.