Death Penalty

Capital punishment is legal in the U.S. state of Louisiana. A total of 659 individuals have been executed in Louisiana including 28 since 1976. Toni Jo Henry (January 3, 1916 - November 28, 1942), born Annie Beatrice McQuiston, was the only woman executed in Louisiana's electric chair (for the murder of Joseph P. Calloway). A total of 88 people are under a sentence of death in the state as of 13 October 2007. The current method of execution in Louisiana is lethal injection. As of 2013, there were 32 states (plus the federal government and U.S military) that utilize the death penalty. This is a fluid number, though, as states frequently pass laws abolishing or reinstating capital punishment. Although some states have abolished the practice, Louisiana has held firm in utilizing the death penalty. Capital punishment is allowed in the state of Louisiana. If a woman defendant is found to be pregnant, execution is stayed until 90-120 days from the end of pregnancy. A person may not be executed while suffering from a mental illness. The definition of a capital homicide in Louisiana is as follows; murder committed during commission of aggravated rap; forcible rape; aggravated kidnapping; aggravated burglary; aggravated arson; drive-by shooting; aggravated escape; armed robbery or simple robbery or first degree robbery when the victim was a fireman or police officer. The only two people in the United States who were sentenced to die (after reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976) for committing a rape that did not result in death were convicted in Louisiana courts: Patrick O. Kennedy and Richard L. Davis. Kennedy's case has led to a challenge before the Supreme Court, which was heard in April 2008. The court ruled in their favor, overturning their death sentences but upholding their convictions. On Saturday, August 29, 2009—the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina—a jury in Orleans Parish sentenced Michael Anderson to death on each of five counts of first degree murder for his execution style shooting of five teenagers on June 17, 2006 The quintuple slaying, which occurred as the nation watched New Orleans begin to rebuild in the aftermath of the storm, drew national attention to the violent crime problems plaguing the city and prompted then-Governor Kathleen Blanco to call in the Louisiana National Guard to help the New Orleans Police Department patrol the streets of the city. The sentence was especially significant as it marked the first time in twelve years that an Orleans Parish jury had sent a person to the state's death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana.     I do not like the death penalty. I am not for it for a number of reasons. I know that my main reason would have to be biblical. I am a firm believe that thou shall not kill. There is a chapter in the bible where some people where going to stone a woman to death for her sins. In that chapter there is a part where Jesus says to those people, those that are without sin shall cast the first stone. Everyone that had stones in their hand had to drop them because no one had not sinned. The only one that had the right to cast a stone was Jesus because he had not sinned. No matter what kind of sin you have committed weather big or small you only have to answer to God. God also said that thou shall not judge. We do not have to right to take a life. Just because someone else has disobeyed God and killed, doesn’t mean I have to. I often get asked the question what would you do if it was your child that someone killed? Wouldn’t you want them to be killed to? Wouldn’t you want justice? I tell them of course I would want justice. When someone is sentenced to the death penalty you are not getting justice, you are getting revenge. Of course I would be hurt but just because that person is killed would not bring my child or loved one back.. It probably won’t even change the way I feel. I’m sure I would still be sad.