DEATH PENALTY

The death penalty is an ongoing controversy in the United States. There are
people that are for it and those that oppose it. I am for it, but only for the
horrendous crimes that are committed today in our society. In my personal opinion, I
think priests that molest or take advantage of little boys deserve the death
penalty. In todays society, this is one of the most controversial debates whether
capital punishment should be outlawed.
Capital punishment has two basic arguments within the debate to make: First is
the question of whether capital punishment is moral, or simply put is it justified. The
second is the question of whether capital punishment is constitutional. According to
the constitution, everyone has a right to freedom, life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.
There are some disadvantages of capital punishment. Opponents have four basic
arguments to make. The first is that there is a possibility of error, meaning that the
person accused is not the real criminal. Although there is a slight chance of error,
this is separate from the issue of the death penalty being justified. They would say
that capital punishment should not be used when one is not one-hundred percent
positive of the criminals guilt. Second argument they make is the execution
process. One may be given the chair, lethal injection or gas. Third argument is a
debate with the supporters that capital punishment may lower crime rates, but no
studies show that it has any affect with capital punishment. Last argument an
opponent would make is the time spent on death row.
There is a problem with the death penalty. It is high-priced because a prisoner
can be sent to death row, but he or she can have an appeal, awaiting a retrial due
to new evidence, all which can be a slow, costly and lengthy process.
A prisoner convicted of a horrendous crime can get parole, which is unjust to the
victim and/or the victims family. What makes the parole board think the prisoner
has been rehabilitated? I believe that if you have committed the crime, you should
not get paroled.
If the crime was murder, is fair for the victims family to see this person out on the
streets again and see if he strikes again? If murder was the crime, then murder is
what the prisoner shall get.
In conclusion, the death penalty is and always will be a controversial debate.
Some are for it and some oppose it. I think that all fifty states should have a death
penalty law, for all those criminals that commit horrendous, undescribable crimes.
They should go straight to death row, for death is the final punishment one can
receive.

The Advantages of the Death Penalty

It shows that the justice system has no sympathy for the criminals.
When criminals escape from the capital punishment, they repeat their crimes and
take more innocent lives.
The availability of modern testings such as DNA testing reduces the chances of
punishing the innocents; therefore, capital punishment can be an effective tool to
control the crimes.
The death penalty can address the problem of overpopulation in the prisons.
It gives closure to the families of the victims who have already suffered a lot.

The Disadvantages of Death Penalty

Though there are scientific methods available to investigate the crime, nothing is
guaranteed. You cannot remove the chances of punishing innocents completely.
The cost involved on the death penalty prosecution is greater than the expenses
occurred in the life imprisonment of the accused. The appeals against such capital
punishments take too long to decide, and often it takes years to decide the fate of
the death penalty. All these things make the death penalty an expensive option for
the governments who spend millions of the dollars of the taxpayer money on death
penalty prosecutions.
It is reported that some of the jury members are not completely impartial as they
decide the penalty on racial or religious basis.
Some of the accused are mentally ill, and it is ethically wrong to put mentally ill
patients to the death.
In most cases people who can afford to hire the expensive lawyers often survived
from such kind of capital punishment. People who are poor, and cannot afford to get
a quality legal assistance becomes the victim of this penalty.
Some of the experts believe that life prison is a more effective punishment to
control crimes as compared to the death penalty. The countries where the death
penalty is banned have less capital crime rate as compared to those countries
where the death penalty is practiced.