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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 2004)
aioi n uoted pro. ^ on the to an : CIC), s not luota- )f the ! 1 Jblesol rcessivt id judj. ADEP, Jirthdai Jir 21a he i ;r, v ^ on contains It )f alco- ent i’ll ICAK- mrsdaj IOp.m. Aggielife The Battalion Not a dead discussion Symposium, current events reopen the death penalty debate throughout A&M By Courtney Flatt the battalion Ever since the Eye for an Eye Death Penalty Symposium, capital punishment has been a hot lopic among students at Texas A&M. The sym posium. which was sponsored by the European ’or th{ ress of i killed people 'as seen nesses. 3 the :r U.S. restore end a M. Guv e chief linican sedby : trying i2. vesbui lilesto idtoit- iblic. minis- ninica author- ninica i earliei mafte support againsi extradi- :en the >A N igttie .ssion istage ;alion. sityjn are in -mail: jyTtie Jassi- Center and the Aggie International Ambassadors, raised questions surrounding the moral and political issues of capital punish- icnt, the trend of capital punishment in the United States and the possibility of the death Malty as a deterrent to crime and extradition. The symposium has sparked debate about apital punishment among students with differ- iipopinions and backgrounds. Many possess Hiremely strong beliefs and share them rather vocally with those who are willing to listen. Blake Lacy, a junior agricultural develop ment major places himself in the victim’s shoes. Lacy believes it is important to remember what las happened to the people who have been vic- imized when considering capital punishment. “1 could stand here all day and say that iing is wrong and should not be implemented mour justice system.” Lacy said, “but 1 know lithe bottom of my heart if it were my father killed or my sister raped, there is nothing less ilanthe death penalty I would accept.” Lacy said he does not believe that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime. He said he real- izesthat every major civilization with the death penalty still has murders, just as there are mur- dersinthe United States today. To Lacy, mur- denwould occur with or without the death penalty, but with the death penalty, the families ofihe victims can feel a sense of closure. “If I woke in the night to find a burglar in my home there to harm my family, I would kill without hesitation,” Lacy said. “Why should myreaction be different in the event 1 could not defend the ones 1 loved?” Other students argue that the convicts need tohegiven the time to feel remorseful for their ciimes.Sophomore international studies major AMeBacchus believes that criminals need to iveness and have trouble doing so before they are truly ready. “When there is so much media attention on a case, that is the time when the accused are least likely to repent,” Bacchus said. “Capital punishment is not our purpose, and it should not be our plan.” Bacchus said she was raised to believe in capital punishment, but her views changed after the James Byrd Jr. trial of Jasper, Texas. Byrd was kidnapped by three men, beaten and dragged three and a half miles down a country road to his death. The three men, John William King, Lawrence Brewer and Shawn Berry, were sentenced to death for Byrd’s murder. Bacchus believes that these convicts will have a hard time repenting for their crimes because of the amount of attention given to the case. She believes they needed to have time to ask for forgiveness before they were sentenced to death. “It really shocked me when John William King’s father got on the stand and asked the jury not to sentence his son to death because he hadn’t repented,” Bacchus said. “I had never thought of it that way before. Now, 1 feel like by taking matters into our own hands, we are taking time away from that person that they would have had to make amends with their creator.” Some students base their viewpoints on the law. but even their opinions differ. Sophomore international studies major Laura Cearfoss believes that order is a large part of the death penalty. Without the death penalty she believes that there would be no justice for the victims. “I think it’s necessary to keep order. You have to have justice,” Cearfoss said. Other students have an international perspec tive. Many countries have extremely different policies toward capital punishment. In order to join the European Union, countries must abol ish the death penalty. Senior psychology major Edit Csuha moved to the United States in 1989 from Hungary. She said she understands the positions of other countries, including Hungary’s, that have cho sen to abolish the death penalty, and believes they are justified because of the historical abuse of capital punishment by their leaders. “I believe that life without parole is the best option,” Csuha said. “Since we don’t have that in Texas right now, 1 feel that it is unethical to let murderers back into society, and so the best option is to just kill them." Senior mechanical engineering major and Aggie International Ambassadors president Shankar Annamalai disagrees. Annamalai gave Tony Piedra • THE BATTALION the opening remarks at the Eye for an Eye Death Penalty Symposium and said the death penalty is similar to the crimes the convicts commit. “A system that punishes people has to be above the crime that was committed,” Annamalai said. The main point of the symposium, however, was to clear up misconceptions of different cul tures, he said. “I think everybody walked away understand ing something new,” Annamalai said. Extra Rockapella Performance Added Tickets on Sale Now! 9 ■$ I I th Annual Texas Film Festival Feb. 1E-E1 > t vr ■ SCHEDULE Monday 5:30 Living the Blues 7:00 Club Dread 9:15 Lost Skeleton of Cadavra Tuesday 6:00 Robot Stories 1^ 8:00 Hidalgo Wednesday 6:00 A Closer Walk 8:00 The Girl Next Door Thursday 3:00 Workshop: Photography & The Enemy Catching Out Film Due to the overwhelming response to ROCKAPELLA, MSC OPAS has added a second performance by the popular ensemble. ROCKAPELLA has rocked audiences Across the globe! Now is your chance to witness the incredible musical talents of the undisputed champions of contemporary a capella. ROCKAPELLA 5:30 7:00 Friday 3:30 5:30 8:00 10:30 Wednesday, April 14 at 7:30 PM Rudder Theatre BUY TICKETS MSC Box Office Opens Today at 11 AMI 845-1234 www.MSCOPAS.org Workshop: Animation The Movie Hero Martin & Orloff Animation Shorts Mutant Aliens Saturday 1:30 Dramatic Shorts 4:00 Comedic Shorts 5:30 Artworks 7:30 War Stories Panel The MSC Film Society runs the largest student-run festival in the U.S. Aside from bringing independent films you may never see in College Station, we also bring directors, actors, and crew members from some of the films. Tickets at Rudder Box Office $3/screening $20/AII-Fest Pass 845-1234 ^ er eoc h performance, the guys of ROCKAPELLA will nstage to discuss their performance with audience me txfilmfest.org remain members. Su M>oit Provided By: OPAS Thret DtctuUx of PtrformingAra i/iqhttn I entertain in ip ire buy tickets, be inspired 'Ql * i % ' i