Capital Punishment

Walt Edwards 9-25-2006

Capital Punishment

If it were up to me, every murderer in this country would be put behind bars on death row and have their life taken from them just as they took the life of another. The guidelines of " an eye for an eye" go back thousands of years. Many countries still hold true to these guidelines. Although America doesn't follow the same as these countries, I believe when it comes to murder, they should.

Putting people to death for committing murder makes other potential murderers think twice about killing someone. Capital punishment deters many murders every day. If all that had to be done was spend life in jail, getting free meals, having a roof over their head, and place to sleep at night, then killing someone wouldn't seem like such a risk. If their life is on the line, and they know if they get caught their going to be put to death, then most likely they will not commit the murder. Murderers are not fearless. They are just like any other human being, if there life is put on the line, there going to think twice about their decisions. For example, when cops catch someone in the act before they commit the crime, if they point there gun at the criminal, that person is going to get down on the ground and surrender. There afraid of the threat of being killed by the officer. Everyone has fear, and capital punishment no doubt deters murders.

Many people say you can't fight violence with violence, and what's the difference in the government killing people and the murderers killing someone. Well, America didn't become the country they are today by sitting back and doing nothing. We had to fight to better our country, so in this case, violence did solve something. Our country is basically at war with the criminals. If we sit back and do nothing, they will continue to kill and will not be afraid. We have to step up and show we mean business, and that we intend to rid our country of murderers. Another thing the anti capital punishment people say is that we should value all human life. My faith in God tells me that human life isn't just a functioning body, and we have spirits given to us by him. Our spirits define who and what we are, and having this means we have love for other humans beings. Murderers don't have this spiritual aspect of human life, so therefore if they don't have it in the first place, it can not be taken away.

Some people appose the death penalty because they believe it cost more to kill the person than to keep them in prison for life. If you put any thought into this at all, you will see that it is entirely wrong. If you put someone in jail for life, you have to feed them every single day, keep them sheltered, and take up the space in the jails. If you put someone to death, you don't have to worry about any of that. The cost of executions is far less than life in jail. Death penalty cases have alot of appeals, that cost alot of money, but