Current event report - Research Paper Example

Your Full Your s 23 March Teresa Lewis, Mentally Disabled Woman, Executed In Virginia Amid Outcry My essay is in response to the article, Teresa Lewis, Mentally Disabled Woman, Executed in Virginia amid Outcry by Steve Szkotak. In this article, Szkotak writes about how the first woman to be executed in the United States in 5 years by lethal injection breathed her last in Virginia. She had conspired in the murder of her husband and her step-son to receive an insurance payout of a quarter of a million US dollars.

Making illicit promises to two men, she arranged for the murder weapons and provided the two hired men the chance to enter the house to carry out the deed. The trio were caught and individually sentenced. Teresa Lewis received the death penalty for masterminding the murder, with both her accomplices receiving life imprisonment, one later committing suicide. I chose this particular article for a few reasons. Firstly, I chose to write about it since capital punishment has divided the society in two.

One half is in favor of it and the other opposes it. Their reasons vary from the supporters talking of retribution and closure and justice being done. The opposing side talks about the sanctity of human life and that one deed cannot cancel out another. They also support their argument by talking about the margin of error in sentencing someone: what it someone was falsely accused due to incomplete evidence; or by misfortune. In case of discovery post-execution, the sentence cannot be reversed, they argue.

The second reason for picking this article was the fact that Teresa Lewis not only did not commit the act herself but was also borderline mentally retarded with an IQ of 71. So it can be argued that she was not mentally equipped to fully grasp the gravity of her undertakings. Testimonies from inmates where she was incarcerated prior to her execution also state that she was a loving and kind woman, with utter faith in God. Committing murder in cold blood is a heinous crime but in my opinion, capital punishment is a bit too extreme even in such circumstances.

It does not offer the sentenced to repent and there is a possibility of the conviction being inaccurate or false. If Teresa Lewis really was borderline mentally retarded and the experts are pretty sure that she was, the hypothesis of her supporters that she did not understand that what she was doing was wrong. They use examples out of her life which was dotted with polygamy, adultery and extramarital affairs. Her greed for money which drove her to commit the deed that saw her sentenced along with all these examples are apparently quoted to drive home the point that she had no comprehension of morality.

Whatever the reason, she could have been sentenced to life imprisonment just as the two men who actually carried out the deed. If she was a changed person as reported by people who were with her till her sentence was carried out, she should have been given another chance at life. Works Cited Szkotak, Steve. “Teresa Lewis, Mentally Disabled Woman, Executed in Virginia Amid Outcry.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com Inc., 23 Sep. 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2011.