How did I get to This Point ?

How could I have avoided it?

I ask myself these questions everyday and I get different answers. See, when I think about my life now and see where it has taken me I can come up with many answers on how I got here and how I could have avoided it.

I could blame my downfall on how I was raised and I could blame them for not making me stay at home when I moved out, but to tell you the truth I can't blame them because I know they raised me the best way two divorced parents knew how. With the exception of my dad not being in my life for a majority of the 17 years that I was not locked up and when he was there it was because I had gotten in trouble.

I could blame it on my having to move from place to place every couple of years for various reasons and not really developing the social skills that I could have from staying in one home, one town, one school. I had been in and out of 10 different schools, that averages out to 1 school per year and after the first couple of times I transferred I was behind in my 7th grade work I just completely gave up. I started abusing drugs, drinking and staying into trouble. I am a product of a broken home, but I am more a product of a bad justice system.

See, I am how they rid themselves of ever having to deal with me again out there. How did we get to the point where we take teenagers and put them on death row and say that we are gonna put so many electric volts through your body until you are dead! How?

They try to justify executing adult offenders by saying that capital punishment deters crimes which is a lie and it always was but how do they justify sending teenagers to death row? They can't justify it because they don't have to and they know it. All because no one has made them really justify putting teenagers on death row.

But I know that people are seeing how wrong our government is on this and I hear about more and more people starting to step up and fight this injustice and I can only hope that you will step up and fight with us. They say that we have the death penalty because society wants it.

Well don't let them hide behind you and do what you know isn't right. Let your voice be heard loud and clear that there's no need for capital punishment.

Matt Hyde Z-605
cell 5-D-9
Holman, 3700
Atmore, AL36503

Something to think about

Words from death row......

For a full list of articles written by Juveniles on Alabama's Death Row, go to the complete list of titles at Stories.