The Death Penalty

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." This is another way for someone to say they are supportive of the death penalty. The death penalty, to me, is revenge. It kills innocent people every year. Many of the families of victims do not want the criminals to be put to death. The death penalty costs more than a life sentence in jail. It is also racists. "Since 1976, there have been five hundred twenty-three executions in the United States, twenty-three in 1999 alone. There was only eleven before 1984. Then the number rose to twenty-one that year. The number of execution stayed around twenty then dropped to eleven in 1988. Then it steadily rose from there to seventy-four executions in 1997. That was the highest since 1976."(Death Penalty Information Center, P.1) There are many different methods of execution used by the government. The most common is lethal injection used by thirty-four states. Electrocution is another method, which is used by ten states. The gas chamber is used in five states. There are still two states today that use hanging as a method of execution. And two other states use a firing squad. The death penalty is also extremely racist. There have been significantly more executions of minorities than white Americans. Capital punishment also goes against the Constitution of the United States. Amendments eight and fourteen state that no cruel and unusual punishment can be inflicted, and no state can deprive any person of life liberty or property. The death penalty clearly takes these privileges away from American citizens.

"More than 2000 people are on death row today. Virtually all are poor, a significant number are mentally retarded or other wise mentally disabled. More than forty percent are African American and disproportionate numbers are Native American, Latino, and Asian." (American Civil Liberties Union) It does not seem fair that only these people are dying. The Constitution states that everyone should be given a fair trial. These statistics do not prove to me that these people had a fair trial. Everybody makes mistakes. If a jury makes a mistake and a person is falsely accused of murder when they find out they messed up they want to take the sentence away. If the sentence is life in prison, they can tell the person they are sorry and they can go free. It does not work that way if they sentence a person to death.

If a jury falsely accuses a person of a crime they did not commit with a sentence to death, they can not take it back. It will be too late. The person will not be able to get their life back. Every year four innocent people are put to death. "Since 1976, seventy people on death row were found innocent of the charges they were accused of." (Death Penalty Information Center) Although some people feel the death penalty is a good thing, I think it is wrong. When someone has committed the crime of murder it creates a great loss for the victims family. Does putting the killer to death make the family of the victim feel any better? They still have to live with the loss of their loved one for the rest of their lives. Taking the life of someone else does not redeem the life of the person that was killed. In many cases, the families of the victims do not want the murderer to be put to death. One case I read about a nine year-old girl was abducted and murdered. Her father said, "She was shy, joyous, and happy she would never hurt anybody. Hurting someone for her would not really be for her, would not honor her, or help us." (Diego Ribadeneira, p.2) What he said is true, it does not help the victim or the family to kill the criminal. Her father knew she would not want anyone to be hurt for her so the death penalty would not help in any way.

When we put criminals on death row for committing the crime of murder, we are stooping to their level. Murderers are not role models. Why should we follow what they do and kill them in return? "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."(Ghandi) If we kill people for killing other people we are basically saying murder is a good choice. If the government can say that a person deserves to die then why can't an ordinary person do the same? Last year in Boston, a fifteen year-old boy was killed in a fight over jewelry. The boy, Cerrone Hemingway, was shot in the head and died. A family member said, "The notion that your child must die because my child died? That does not satisfy. It does not bring peace. It only turns our hearts to stone." (Diego Ribadeneira, p.3) This family experienced the great loss of having a loved one killed. Yet they still do not feel it is right to put the killer to death. If the family of the victim does not think the killer deserves to die, who has the right to say they should die? The family is the one who is suffering so they should have the right to say they do not want to kill anyone.

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