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Editor:
I am writing in response to Chris Badeaux' Nov. 8 column "Rapists, as well as murderers, deserve death." I must say I am appalled and saddened by his blas attitude towards murder. In his quest to extinguish the criminal element of society, he has himself become a proponent of murder.
I agree with Badeaux that rapists do not serve long enough terms in prison, nor do murderers. I also would say that our prison system is an ineffective deterrent to crime and that our legal system is screwed up beyond belief.
There should not be mandatory sentences for druggies, but rather for rapists and murderers. There should be extensive prison reform in which all luxuries of life (television, weight room, cable, Nintendo, etc.) are taken away from prisoners. There should be work programs so that prisoners can give back to the taxpayers what the taxpayers give to them. However, we as a society cannot afford to sink into the depths of depravation that murderers and rapists fall into to.
One may say that if I was raped or had a friend murdered, I might feel differently. Well, I have never gone through that experience, but I can say that I had a friend who was raped. Not a very good experience for your first time, and what's more, she never brought charges against him. This act of cruelty deserves just punishment, but I would rather watch the rapist rot away behind bars forever, then sink to the rapist's level of cruelty. By advocating the death penalty, the only message government sends out is that murder is right and justifiable. Killing criminals will not make America a safer place, it will only reinforce a societal value built upon violence and cruelty.
Melissa A. Meister
womenâs studies junior
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