Life with parole preferable alternative
Last year, the Aurora, Colo., massacre shook the nation when 12 people were killed and 58 were wounded at a midnight cinema screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.” The suspect, James Holmes, is still in the process of court hearings in this horrific case that has drawn national attention. The most recent development in the case was made by the defense, who attempted to enter a guilty plea so Holmes would be sentenced to life without parole rather than the death penalty.
But this plea bargain was denied because the prosecutor in the case is striving for justice through punishing Holmes with death. Friends and families of the victims have commented that they are pleased he will likely face the death penalty, possibly because they may feel that death of the suspect is the best form of closure.
While their desire for closure is valid, sentencing someone to life without parole is almost always a better form of punishment than death.
Whether the death penalty should be used is a constantly debated, but forgoing it has numerous benefits. Life imprisonment without parole guarantees the convict will spend his or her life behind bars with no chance of hurting more civilians.
While death is certainly a severe punishment, it can be seen as an easy escape for criminals who don’t want to rot away in a prison for years, which is undoubtedly a form of hell on Earth.
In addition, life without parole forces the prisoner to spend the entirety of their lives, which often is decades, dealing with the dreadful ramifications of their actions. Life without parole is referred to by many as “death by incarceration” because it is truly the end of one’s freedom. Life as they have known it and any hope for a future is stripped away entirely.
And while not likely in this particular case, there’s the possibility of sentencing an innocent person to death. Since 1973, more than 140 people in America have been proclaimed innocent and saved from death row. There is no way to know how many people have been wrongly convicted.
The existence of so many people who have been saved from a wrongful death sentence attests to possibility for our court system to convict innocent people. These individuals can still salvage some of their life when exonerated if sentenced to life without parole. However, there is no way to correct an execution.
While there is definite satisfaction in sentencing criminals to their deaths, sentencing them to life without parole instead ensures justice can always be served.