The Death Penalty Should Be Legal

America is within the top four countries for the number of executions due to the death penalty since 1999. Citing the, “Amnesty International in For What Tomorrow (2004), more than 1,800 people were executed in 31 countries, the vast majority of these in China (1076), Iran (165), Saudi Arabia (103), and then the United States (98)” (NAAS, 43). The death penalty is currently an intense debate involving the idea of whether or not we as people should be able to sentence another person to death. According to the ethical and moral reasoning of the philosophers Jeremy Bentham, Peter Singer, and Hugo Bedau, the death penalty should not be a legal punishment.

Imagine that you are arrested and going to be tried for a crime that you did, or did not, commit. What if you cannot afford the cost of a lawyer? Will you be able to handle the physical and mental toll that all of the appeals have on a person? The death penalty, or capital punishment, is one of the most debated topics in America. It has been used for centuries, but many claim it to be barbaric, and want the practice to end all together. The death penalty should only be used in cases where there is absolute evidence that the criminal is guilty, because life in prison can be an alternative, there are many flaws in the justice system, and it can be a cruel and unusual punishment.

Capital punishment is the punishment of a heinous crime like murder. It is being used now in some states and has also been used in the ancient times. Thirteen states right now don’t have the death penalty: Alaska, District of Colombia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. But all states should ban it because the American Civil Liberties Union believes the death penalty inherently violates the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment and the guarantees of due process of law and of equal protection under the law. Capital punishment is an intolerable denial of civil liberties and is inconsistent with the fundamental values of our democratic

In September, 1983, 11 year old Sabrina Buie was found dead. She had been beaten, raped, and suffocated. The police received a confession from 19 year old Henry Lee McCollum and 15 year old Leon Brown. Both were convicted and were sentenced to death. After spending 30 years in prison, the men were released because they were proven innocent. Another man was responsible for the crime, his name was Roscoe Artis. Henry and Leon gave false confessions, and they currently have maintained their innocence ("The Innocent on Death Row"). Capital punishment has always been an issue for a multitude of reasons. Two innocent men were almost killed because of official error and misconduct. Although the death penalty can sometimes be justifiable based on crimes, the death penalty should be illegal in the United States.

You are clothed in a bright orange jumpsuit with your arms and legs shackled with heavy chains, giving you no choice but to slowly shuffle down the hallway. There are 6 by 8 cement rooms with barred doors, cages, keeping a person in, and everyone else out. Hope left you decades ago, when they locked you away from the rest of the world. You know where you are heading, strapped to a bed with three hooded men pushing drugs into your body through IV bags, drugs that will kill you within minutes. Should this be legal, or should criminals have to live with their crimes?

Albert Einstein, a physicist and philosopher of science, “once said, no problem can be solved with the same level of thinking that created it” (Einstein). The intelligent man expressed his ideas clearly that if a killer kills someone and we also kill the killer then what would be the difference between us and the killer because we both are killers. The Death penalty was influenced by Britain. The practice was brought by European settlers for practice in U.S. The first recorded execution in the new colonies was Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608. Kendall was executed for being a spy for Spain (“Part I”). According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 31 States in the United States allow the death penalty and 19 states do not allow the death penalty (“Deterrence”). The death penalty should be abolished in our society because it is not an effective crime deterrent, it puts a strain on our economy, it may result in the loss of innocent lives, and it promotes racial discrimination.

Since their declaration of independence, America had incorporated many aspects of Great Britain’s culture; one of those aspects include the death penalty, which began in 1608 at the time of the Jamestown executions. The death penalty, a topic discussed since it began, includes death by electric shock, gas chamber, hanging, firing squad, and, most commonly used, lethal injection. In 2014, it took an Arizona man two hours and fifteen times the normal amount of medicine to die with lethal injection. Knowing that the outcome of the death penalty may cause immense pain, the use of the death penalty should be illegal in all states throughout the United States.

What is the death penalty? The death penalty is the punishment of execution, given to

The death penalty gives humans in our legal system rights to decide who deserves to live, a power only God should possess. Capital Punishment takes away our rights as equals. From its origins, the death penalty has been an inhumane, costly, ineffective, and biased form of punishment that needs to be abolished granting everyone their right to live.

In America, when someone is accused of murder, they go to trial. In most trials, they

Guilty! This is a strong word that you hear from a judge or jury when you break the law and are found guilty of a crime. There are different forms of punishment as a result of breaking the law. It could be a small fine, short jail sentence, or maximum punishment of death. There are currently 31 states that enforce the death penalty or capital punishment (procon.org). The last state to repeal the death penalty was Connecticut on April 25, 2012. Is the death penalty categorized as cruel and unusual punishment as stated within the 8th amendment? The death penalty should be stopped because a life sentence in prison would surely be adequate.

Imagine a family member of yours was unjustly framed with something he didn’t commit and he is sentenced to death penalty, how would you feel? Death sentence has been thrown back and forth with the argument that it is or it is not an acceptable way of punishing. Offenders are doing what they know best, breaking the law, but the government instead of fixing the problem by doing something better, the make it worse by taking another life from society, which can be considered a “crime”. The death penalty is currently being used by thirty-four out of the fifty in the United States. Death penalty often establishes the question, “Does the government have the right to take away someone’s life?” When death penalty claim another life, the people that get affected are the families of the ones being charged. Death penalty does not bring justice in this world, instead it takes the life of another human being, innocent or not. Death penalty should not exist because it is unconstitutional and affects the families of the person being charged with a certain case. Death sentence didn’t just come out of the blue, it had to come from somewhere and what inspired its creation

The United States is divided by the death penalty. There is over half the amount of people that are with the death penalty but there is a lot that oppose it. In 36 states they have legalized the death penalty there are 14 that have abolished it. I believe the whole nation should legalize the death penalty. There are many reasons as to why I believe the death penalty should be legalized in every states, including deterrence retribution, and morality; and because opposing arguments do not hold up. While the death penalty seems to be a stupid act, it is necessary because it creates less crime, it does cost money, But has been historically found to have less crime.

The death penalty is one topic that many people have their opinion about. Some say it violates the eighth amendment, which is ones’ right against cruel and unusual punishment. Yes, the eighth amendment protects that right, but should that right protect the people who take another person’s life? Not only do the people that commit this crime take a persons’ life, they had a plan and followed through with it. That’s something people today don’t understand, is that the death penalty isn’t just handed out to the people who commit crimes like robbery or assault, the criminals that are put to death are the people that are heartless murders and wanted to end another person’s life. Making the death penalty legal in every state and used more in

Abortion is a sin. The death penalty should be abolished. Donald Trump will make America great again. Fairlife is better than Trumoo. I don’t necessarily agree with all of these statements, but they are all widely discussed topics today. Did any of the comments make you feel uneasy?