How does death penalty affect people?

The death penalty has tremendous effects on the families of both the victims and the murderers. Family members of homicide victims report an initial phase of mental and physical shock. The families of the victims will never be the same. If their child was killed often times the parents will get a divorced. Frequently, siblings of a murder victim suffer from the loss of functional parents as well as the loss of a brother or sister. Children who experience the loss of a loved one are often called on to grow up quickly. When parents cannot find the emotional reserves to care for their surviving children, siblings often feel devalued, unworthy of living, and discouraged. Many cannot rest at night for fear that someone will come and kill them. The families of the murderers are shunned from society; people feel like they too are bad people and don't want to be associated with them. Both sides suffer from the initial shock; victims' families are shocked and horrified by the murder itself, inmates' families by the arrest of a loved one for a horrible crime. Both groups may feel isolated, as though no one understands what they are going through. Both groups report feeling neglected and abused by the criminal justice system. Although both families share many feelings there are some dissimilarities. Victims' families see the death of their loved ones as senseless, meaningless, and inexplicable. They agonize over the "why" of the murder. Families of death row inmates understand the reasons for the death sentence and execution, even though they may disagree with the morality, fairness, or efficacy of the death penalty.