Capital Punishment of Mentally Disabled

[Briauna Jackson]

While browsing on the internet, I was immediately disturbed when I came across an article about a man being lethally injected in Huntsville, Texas.  The 44-year-old man, Ramiro Hernandez Llanas was convicted in 2000 for capital murder. During the time that he was being arrested, the police force officials failed to notify him of his rights to contact the Mexican consultant for assistance, which is required due to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.  Ramiro Llanas’ case raises right concerns.  The man convicted of murder, presented evidence that he had an intellectual disability.  In 2002, the US Supreme Court ruled that the case was cruel and unusual punishment to execute someone with an intellectual disability.  The man was still lethally executed and pronounced dead on April 9^th, 2014.  Intellectual disability is characterized by significant limitation in both intellectual functioning as well as in adaptive behavior.  I have always been against the death penalty.  Jesus taught believers to forgive:  "But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Mat. 6:15.  Although the man committed a terrible crime, he had a disability.  I believe he should have been committed to a mental institution instead of receiving the death penalty.  

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/04/09/dispatches-three-strikes-texas-d...

[Hayden Whisenhunt]

In this article, the issue at hand is the death penalty in Texas.  Ramiro Hernandez is being faced with this penalty because of murder.  In Texas the death penalty involves lethal injection.  The article is arguing if this is humane or not and also if Hernandez’s civil rights were handled right. He was not made aware of his right to contact the Mexican Consulate for assistance at the time of his arrest.

I believe the death penalty is right in certain cases.  In this case I believe is deserved and not inhumane.  However, I believe that things were not handled right.  Hernandez should be made aware at the time of his arrest that he can contact the Mexican consulate.  Also, in Texas they will not release the company they get the insulin from, and therefore nobody knows what is in it.  I believe that this should be made aware and that this is an abuse of citizen’s rights.  Even though the citizen who is being penalized of death probably does not deserve to know what is in it, his family does and Texans do as well.  I will never disagree with the death penalty however, because I believe that it installs fear in the mind of criminals in Texas because they realize their behavior affects their lives and their behavior could their lives as well.