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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
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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
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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
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