Death Penalty

Death Penalty

When turning on the television, radio, or simply opening the local newspaper, people are bombarded with news of arrests, murders, homicides, and other such tragedies. I believe murder, including the death penalty, is the worst thing that anyone could do. Since Hammurabi first introduced the notion of "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth", people have been arguing over whether this is just punishment. Those in favor of the death penalty argue that people should pay for the crimes they do. For them, death is the only fit punishment in some cases. This is not the case. The death penalty is, rather, unethical and wrong. A death for another death does nothing but satisfy one's need for revenge. How often do these concepts creep into the public's mind when it hears of our Ð''fair, trusty' government taking away someone's breathing rights? I am strongly against the death penalty because it violates God's rules, costs the taxpayers too much money, and the possible "wrongly accused."

I do not support having the death penalty because it violates religious beliefs. Many religions, such as my own, Catholicism, follow the rules that God sent to us through the Ten Commandments. One of the most important of those ten state, "Thou shall not kill." If someone is executing an individual, that clearly violates this commandment. Most of the people today are supposed to live Christian lives, but they don't mind people getting killed. I am pretty sure if it were someone in their family, they would feel the same way I do. Murdering any person, no matter what the individual has been convicted of, is a mortal sin. Therefore, God will punish anyone who aids in executing people. I believe that religious beliefs, such as the Ten Commandments, are the corner stone for our law system. Executing someone should not be made an exception to God's rule.

Most people feel that men who rape little children deserve to die a painful death. They feel that the child and family would be much happier if he dies and know that he can't hurt anyone anymore. The death penalty still would be wrong. I am pretty sure that people would feel differently if it were their family. They would just want them to get a harsher punishment.

My next reason against the death penalty is that taxpayers waste too much of their money with the death penalty. The average death penalty case is appealed many times. This means that the taxpayers must pay for the same trial to be heard three times. This is a very expensive practice. Also, the convicted murderer spends a long time on death row. If supporters of the death penalty are positive enough to kill the person for committing the crime, shouldn't the supporters be confident enough to execute them in a timely manner? Why spend the taxpayer's money keeping these inmates in jail for so long? Taxpayer's money should go to better society, not to accommodate the prisoners that are going to end up dead.

People also think that if someone is killed, they should be killed also. That goes back to my introduction of what Hammurabi thought. I really think that his saying is kind of ridiculous. I hate people who are closed minded about certain things. Why should someone be killed for killing? As I was taught when I was