Justice For the Mentally Retarded by Chelsea Johnson

When reading the anecdote at the beginning of Raven's post I was horrified. I was appalled by the way the man's family had treated him all of his life. It is no wonder that he would go to commit such a heinous crime. But it then made me ask: Why should he not be removed from society? I am not surprised that he is dangerous after the way he was abused his entire life. However, if a mentally handicapped person is a danger to society, I believe he too should face consequences so that he is unable to kill again. Raven gave many reasons why its easy for mentally ill to be wrongly accused, but her anecdote concerned a guilty person so the scenario and justification for not using the death penalty does not work. Yet, I agree with Raven that the death penalty is not the answer, but possibly a prison for the mentally ill or a mental institution is appropriate. The death penalty is never the best choice, because so often people are wrongly accused. We can never take back a life. I feel that by locking a perpetrator up in a prison for the rest of his life we are still making him face grave consequences where his life will never be the same. However, in that case, we still have the opportunity to set him free if he is proven innocent. Beyond reasonable doubt is not enough when concerning a human being's life.