Crime

Crime is everywhere. Crime is in our neighborhood. Crime is in the neighboring state. Wherever we look, we find criminals and crime. Criminals have become a part of our daily lives. Does this mean we let them be the darkness of our society? No, absolutely not. Eliminating crime and criminals is our responsibility, and we cannot disregard it. Some criminals commit a crime because they have no other alternative to survive, but some do it for excitement. An individual, who perhaps stole some bread from a grocery store, unquestionably does not deserve the death penalty. However, a serial killer, who kills people for enjoyment or for his personal gain, certainly deserves the death penalty. Not everybody deserves to die, but some people definitely do. I support the death penalty for several reasons. First of all, I believe that death penalty serves as a deterrent and helps in reducing crime. Secondly, it is true the death penalty is irreversible, but it is hard to kill a mistakenly convicted person due to the several chances given to the convicted to confirm his innocence. Thirdly, the death penalty assures protection of the society by eliminating these criminals.

Deterrence is the act or process of discouraging actions or preventing occurrences by instilling fear or doubt or anxiety. The death penalty is one of those intense punishments that would create fear in the mind of any normal person. Everyone fears death, even animals. Nearly all criminals would think twice if they knew their own lives were at stake. Even though there is no statistical proof that the death penalty deters crime, we have to agree that most of us fear death. Assume there is no death penalty in a state and life imprisonment without parole is the maximum punishment. What is really stopping a prisoner who is facing a life imprisonment without parole to commit another murder in the prison?

More than 4,300 people have been executed in the United States since 1930. There is no way of knowing how many people have been executed in the United States prior to 1930 because executions were once a public affair with no central agency keeping track of them. In 2006, 53 inmates were executed. In 2006, 53 persons in 14 States were executed: 24 in Texas; 5 in Ohio; 4 each in Florida, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Virginia; and 1 each in Indiana, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, California, Montana, and Nevada. Of persons executed in 2006:32 were white and 21 were black. All 53 inmates executed in 2006 were men.