--- title: Murder Gets You Life, Being In The Womb Gets You Death description: canonical_url: https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/opinons/murder-gets-you-life-being-in-the-womb-gets-you-death language: en-US date: 2024-12-30T21:31:59Z notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/opinons/murder-gets-you-life-being-in-the-womb-gets-you-death. Schema.org structured data included at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers. markdown-tokens: 2551 --- > **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/opinons/murder-gets-you-life-being-in-the-womb-gets-you-death. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content. > **Structured data** as JSON-LD may be found at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers. > **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above. ![Murder Gets You Life](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/images/opinions/2024/december/murdergetsyoulife/deathpenalty-article.png)President Joe Biden, less than a month away from leaving office, this morning gave a tremendous Christmas gift to those on Federal Death Row. In an act that was openly described as one to get in the way of the incoming Trump campaign, the President commuted the sentences of dozens of death row inmates and reduced the penalty to life in prison. According to Fox News: The convicted murderers who will now escape execution include: Marcivicci Barnette, who killed a man in a carjacking and his ex-girlfriend; co-defendants Brandon Basham and Chadrick Fulks, who kidnapped and killed a woman after escaping prison; Anthony Battle, who killed a prison guard; Jason Brown, who stabbed a postal worker to death; Thomas Hager, who committed a drug-related killing; David Runyon, who participated in the murder-for-hire plot of a Naval officer; Thomas Sanders, who kidnapped and killed a 12-year-old girl; Rejon Taylor, who carjacked, kidnapped and killed a restaurant owner; and Alejandro Umana, who killed two brothers inside a restaurant. ([](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-commutes-sentences-37-federal-death-row-inmates-final-month-presidency)) These are not people who are being held for petty or political crimes. Nor are they victims of happenstance. They are brutal killers who have forfeited their right to live by shamefully and mercilessly taking the lives of others. It is outrageous that their lives were spared. It is infuriating that their penalties were commuted for purely political reasons. And it should not surprise anyone. The President’s commutations serve to illustrate fully the profound level of hypocrisy in the Democrat party and in the resulting influence that party has had on the American ethos. On one hand, the Liberal Voices shout as one to stop the death penalty because it violates and demeans human life – even for those who have committed the most heinous of crimes. () Yet, on the other hand, these same denizens of the left who would walk a Green Mile in the shoes of the condemned are quick to rush to slaughter as many of the innocent as they can find in the name of abortion rights. To crunch the numbers, between 1976 (when the death penalty was reinstalled by the Supreme Court) and 2019, the number of reported homicides in the United States was 816,442 ([](https://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm)). During that same time period, the number of executions that have taken place is 1,607. ([](https://dpic-cdn.org/production/documents/pdf/FactSheet.pdf?dm=1734633322)) Using those numbers, only .19% of those convicted of homicide were put to death. The vast remaining amount either were solved, were not convicted, or received a lesser sentence - a lesser sentence meaning anything less than being put to death. Of those receiving the death penalty, the average wait on death row is ten years or more. ([](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-row/death-row-time-on-death-row)). During that same period of 1976 to 2019, over 40 million abortions were performed in the United States. ([](https://www.statista.com/statistics/185274/number-of-legal-abortions-in-the-us-since-2000/)) According to the Lozier Institute, roughly 5% of all reported abortions are performed for the oft stated reasons to keep abortion legal: rape, incest, life of the mother, or fetal abnormality. ([](https://lozierinstitute.org/fact-sheet-reasons-for-abortion/)) Going with those numbers, of the 40 million babies killed since 1976, 38 million were killed for the convenience of the parents. The average wait time for those seeking to kill their unborn child is less than 24 hours. ([](https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/state-indicator/mandatory-waiting-periods/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D)[https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/state-indicator/mandatory-waiting-periods/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22](https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/state-indicator/mandatory-waiting-periods/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22):%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D) According to the numbers, for every convicted killer that gets executed, 23,946 babies have also been put to death simply because they had the misfortune of being in the wombs of women in a society who seem to care more about death row inmates than their unborn offspring. Makes sense? The death of any human is a tragedy, whether unborn or justly convicted. A man or woman’s death at the hands of others must always be seen as the result of the evilness that is a part of our world. The most despicable of humans are still created in the image of God. Putting that image to death as a penalty of robbing someone else of life is something that should never be celebrated – no matter how just the conviction. From Biblical times onward, the death penalty has been a part of every civilization. Western Civilization – although imperfectly at times – has always placed a high value on the sanctity of life and has used the death penalty to – ironically – enforce that ideal. Life is so sacred – we have proclaimed – that those who unjustly and maliciously end it in others must forfeit their own life. As Professors Edward Feser and Joseph Bassette state: We reserve the death penalty in the United States for the most heinous murders and the most brutal and conscienceless murderers. . . . To sentence killers like those to less than death would fail to do justice because the penalty . . . would be grossly disproportionate to the heinousness of the crime. (Why The Death Penalty is Still Necessary – as quoted by the Federalist: [](https://thefederalist.com/2019/05/30/ending-death-penalty-benefits-worst-criminals/)) The death penalty preserves life because it executes those who have unjustly taken it in others. It preserves life because it sends a clear message to those who would commit the same crime. While we as a society must always find just and humane ways to execute those who have given up the right to live because of their actions, we must nevertheless be bold enough to impose the penalty of death when warranted. Aquila Barnette – who murdered Robin Williams and Donald Lee Allen ([](https://www.wisconsinrightnow.com/aquilia-marcivicci-barnette-victims-robin-williams-donald-lee-allen/)) – is 50 years old and thanks to President Biden will spend the rest of his life in prison. There is no reason he should not make it to 70. Twenty additional years for a ruthless murderer pardoned by President Joe Biden. During Mr. Barnette’s time in prison, an additional 12 million babies will be put to death by the same democrats who think that executing a convicted criminal is unjust and uncivilized. The answer of course is simple. Every unborn child should be immediately convicted of 1st degree homicide. Since those on the left are adamantly opposed to any kind of death penalty for those convicted of this crime, this should guarantee every baby at least 20 years of life. 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