Capital Punishment Essay, Research Paper

More money is spent executing humans than keeping them in a penitentiary for life.

Compared to capital punishment, life in prison is far worse. Mistakes may be made and no one can

bring another human back to life. Juries are often white and this may lead to racial decisions. Of

the 144 executions since the 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty in the U.S., not one white

person has been executed for killing a black. Of the 16,000 executions in U.S. history, only 30

cases involved a white sentenced for killing a black. Therefore, no one, including the government,

should have the power to tell another human that they must be put to death, no matter what they

commit.

Today?s government and justice system is not as efficient as it should be. If a mistake is

made in an execution sentence and an innocent person dies, no one can bring their life back. Now,

if the death penalty did not exist, the person would still have their life. Juries also have to think

about the families, both of the victim and the suspect. What if the suspect did not commit the

murder and was executed? How would the suspect?s family feel? A close relative had just died due

to the fact that another mistake was made in our justice system. This in fact would send a rush of

anger through my body. The justice system killed somebody?s family member. The death penalty

should not even exist, due to the fact that many mistakes can be made, and a life can never be

brought back.

Juries have been and still are mostly consisted of the white majority. Racism and money is a

big part of our everyday lives. With the majority of people in the jury consisted of whites, racism

might in fact be involved. Now, if a black family is poor and does not have much money, the suspect

may then be issued a racist attorney. Many cases have been recorded of this happening, both of

innocent and guilty men. Innocent men again were put to death, this time due to their skin

color. This is just another reason leading to how poor our justice system is, and why it should not

be in effect.

There are few oppositions to not having the death penalty in effect. The main concern with

not having the death penalty in effect is that people would not care as much when they committed

a crime. Now, if the death penalty was in effect, people would think twice about their mistake

before committing it. The quote, ?an eye for an eye? in also a opposition. A solution for this quote

is another quote, ?two wrongs do not make a right?. Therefore, a man guilty of murder should not

be put to death, for that is just making another wrong.

Only God himself has the power to tell a human that they must die and then carry the

sentence out. For one human to tell another human that they must die; that is not just. For in most

cases, the jury members do not even know the suspect. Why should they, the jury, have the power

to give a death sentence to another human? For they are human too; it is inhuman to tell another

that they must die. The death sentence is not just, and should be done away with.