The Triangle

Issue date: 10/9/09 Section: Ed-Op

Media Credit: John Smierciak Chicago Tribune/MCT Campus

Walking next to the bailiff, in handcuffs and a prison uniform, a man enters the courtroom. He has been on trial for over a year, and today is finally receiving his sentence. A year and a half ago, this man was arrested for drugging and raping two women and then eventually murdering them. During the trial it was proven that this man used torture techniques to slowly kill the women. Truly a horrible case; yet, the defendant is only sentenced to life in prison due to the case being held in a state without the death penalty. The purpose of the United States' court system is to provide proper justice to those deserving. But would you consider life in prison proper justice for an individual who drugged, rapped and murdered two women? I certainly would not.

In my opinion, life in prison is the most useless aspect of our court system's ability to supply genuine justice to citizens. Let's put things in perspective. This man, this criminal, will go to federal prison. He will be fed three full meals a day. He will have adequate sleeping conditions and time for maintaining correct hygiene processes. Prisoners even get leisure time everyday. Guess who pays for all of this? The United States citizens' tax dollars. Our money supports prisoners. Prisoners need to experience the effects of their negligent and atrocious crimes. I believe they must truly suffer for their wrongdoings.

Our government has strict laws on cruel and unusual punishment. In layman's terms, it can be defined as a government not implying any drastic suffering or humiliation on the condemned as punishment for the crimes they have committed. Therefore, no matter what level of crime, there can be no degrading or torturous penalties against the defendant. This general idea was originally founded in the English Bill of Rights, which was signed in 1689. More notably, it is stated in the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution as, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted." As justifiable as it may sound, is it really correct? In the news we have seen and read about numerous conspiracies of detainees claiming to be tortured in United States Federal Prisons. Instances at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have been greatly publicized. Our government may or may not break the rules of cruel and unusual punishment, but at times it may be the correct path to follow to achieve complete justice.

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