Capital Punishment Essay, Research Paper

Capital Punishment

My opinion on capital punishment is very shaky because of the unstable facts and controversy surrounding this topic. I personally, am caught somewhere in the middle of deciding on being for or against the death penalty. I am for the death penalty for several reasons: I think that we need to get the hardened criminals off the streets and out of our court and jail systems. The death penalty is ultimately the only choice that creates that, even though the accused will be on death row and appealing his/her conviction. I also feel that in some situations the crime of murder is so heinous and vulgar that the guilty party deserves to be put to death. I would like to say that I like the death penalty because it is cheaper than prison, but I would need to see the numbers to compare. My last reason for being for the death penalty is a killer should be killed.

I also have a few reasons to be against the death penalty. Does capital punishment really deter crime? I feel that we should not put a person to death just so that person can be the posterboy/girl for crime deterrent. And does a killer really think about that before murdering someone? I also have on my conscience that “thou shalt not kill” is the seventh commandment and killing would be a sin against God, but than again I am not in the jury box, or doing the final deed.

I have some further thoughts on capital punishment. I think that capital punishment is far from being cruel and unusual punishment. And in my mind you should be killed for any degree of murder. I don’t believe that the death penalty discriminates against minorities because no matter what color skin you can make the choice to commit or not to commit a crime. I also think that we should believe strongly in our court system and know that is has the ability to make the decision of guilt or innocence, and if someone is on death row there should be no doubt in the fact that they belong there.