Define Cruel and Unusual!

ABC News has done a story on the last words of inmates as the stay on all executions by lethal injection has been lifted. So here's my question, why do we keep running hot and cold on this one? The death penalty gets so much flack every few years and I think it's somewhat silly to keep debating over an issue that is a sure fire guarantee that the perps won't re- offend. Is there a such thing as cruel and unusual punishment to a convict who rapes 20 little girls scarring them for the rest of their lives? What is too cruel for a person who erases entire families because they got dumped? How can we justify not punishing to the fullest extent of the law a man who has been creating havoc and despair for upwards of 20 years, destroying one life after another?

There are many things that make me question patriotism and the tendency of Americans to feel sympathy for monsters who deserve none is pretty high on that list. If we are to keep out society an orderly one and not have people reverting to Marshall law; taking the authority from the government and putting it into their own hands, it is required that the government find a satisfactory legal process for dealing with the worst of our element.

"Life" is not a life sentence in most states, (I would be stupid to try to ascertain what a life sentence consists of in every state)

There are also many states where a convict can be
released on parole after a decade or more has passed. For example, sentences of
"15 years to life" or "25 years to life" may be given; this is called an
"indeterminate life sentence", while a sentence of "life without the possibility
of parole" is called a "determinate life sentence". Even when a sentence
specifically denies the possibility of parole, government officials may have the
power to grant amnesty or reprieves, or commute a sentence to time served.

Taking this into consideration, even repeat offenders can have a sentence that began as life commuted into time served and be released only having served a fraction of the time they were sentenced to, only to go out and offend again that same day. Now do you want these predators walking down the street in your nice suberban neighborhood, maybe offering to mow your lawn for you?

Opponents of the death penalty claim that it is not our place to judge what the life of a human is worth, but I ask if not us then who? Further we take it upon ourselves to sit in judgement of these people in court, how is that different from sentencing them to death and carrying that sentence out? We judge each other every day based upon the simplest characteristics, how can we be afraid to protect ourselves and those around us by ridding the world of someone who refuses to live by the rules of it? The Bible says "an eye for an eye," at the time there was a literal interpretation. We are more enlightened as a people now, but are we better for it? In Middle Eastern countries the punishments for crime are so severe that people are very cautious about breaking the law. Now while there are many other issues occurring in the middle east that are less than worth of modeling, this appears to be working like gang busters.

The only other solution I could get behind would be putting all of these violent, serial criminals on an island together (Survivor-style) and letting them fight it out amongst themselves. Seriously, there are so many unincorporated little patches of sand floating on the ocean, we could buy a few, and start sending them down in parachutes, dropping off food and new inmates every couple of weeks. Eventually we'd have a society of law abiding citizens afraid to commit crimes for fear of being banished to an island with not enough food and no shelter.

It's just a thought.