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Why Is Capital Punishment Wrong

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Capital Punishment is defined by the legal authorization to kill someone as a punishment for a crime (Dictionary.com). The death penalty is an inhumane form of punishment that dates back to the fifth century B.C. While the death penalty used to be administered in unthinkable ways such as tearing people from limb to limb, tar and feathering, being boiled alive and even forced to drink boiling metals; it has evolved overtime as lethal injection and electrocution (forcechange.com). Although the way that the death penalty is done has changed to more modern times, it is still just as the definition reads as killing someone, and that is still wrong for many reasons. Since 1796, there have been a total of 1,264 people executed in America ( theguardian.com). …show more content…

Since 1976, 138 people have been put on death row (oadp.org). This happens more often than death penalty supporters would like to believe. One reason that innocent people may be put to death is because they may get poor representation at trial. The possibility of killing another innocent, wrongfully accused person is too much to risk. To kill an innocent person is morally irresponsible and highly reprehensible. Along with innocent lives, the method of choosing the people who receive capital punishment is wrong. It is supposed to be a random choosing, but that is in fact not true. African Americans are four percent more likely to get killed on death row than a white person. Three percent of death row trials are based on sex and heritage. Not only does this make our system discriminatory, it makes them very wrong. Supporters of the death penalty claim that, without it, our prisons would become overly populated and the cost to house and feed these prisoners would be too high. This is simply not true. Annually, a prisoner’s house and food costs about $31,286 (nytimes.com). However, to kill a prisoner on death row is $1.26 million (deathpenalty.org). Furthermore, capital punishment is far more expensive than housing prisoners. The Death Penalty does not abide any religious beliefs. It certainly is not condoned in the religion of Christianity. God is the only one who can decide when a person

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