Death Penalty

The death penalty is a popular controversial issue that has been going around for many years. Some people oppose the death penalty whereas some people don't due to various reasons. I agree to the law of banning the death penalty because the death penalty is against American values to be tried as a criminal. In addition, the death penalty shouldn't be used at all regarding criminals that kill others. Instead of punishing criminals with the death penalty, we can life sentence criminals. Fewer resources would be wasted so that we will be able to use it on something useful such as education or pollution.

The death penalty is barbaric because it violates the "cruel and unusual clause" in the Bill of Rights. For example, Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong II murdered their own people while we do the same to our people. Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong II are terrorists who ordered troops on mass murders toward their own people. In return, they are wanted due to the taking of innocent civilian lives away. The 8th amendment of the U.S constitution prevents the use of "cruel and unusual punishment" and thus the death penalty violates this restriction. On the other hand, the death also has its own advantage because eliminating a prisoner earlier would cause fewer problems such as when prisoners start killing other prisoners in different cells. Civilians would no longer fear of prisoners escaping to commit crimes once again as long as they are dead.

The cost to execute a criminal is overwhelming compared to life sentence. Death sentencing costs two to five times more than life sentencing criminals. It takes so long to execute a criminal because of endless appeals, additional procedures and legal rights that extend a criminal's life to 20 years or so. Money from judges, attorneys, court reporters, clerks, and court facilities all require a substantial investment by the taxpayers. Instead of using our resources on death sentencing, we should be using the resources for greater goods such as security and for the economy. Executing a criminal takes away any chances they would have of running away. If the prisoner receives a life sentence under his belt and escapes, he would go on a crime/murder spree because he knows that he would eventually get caught.

The death penalty also causes innocent people to die because of mistakes made in the case. The Richardson case in 1983 is a good example of innocent people being accused of a crime and may have been punished with the death penalty. Richardson was tried and convicted of killing his seven children when in fact, he was innocent. When Richardson's three cellmates were brought into testify against him, he had confessed his crime to them, not bothering to mention that the sheriff had promised the three prisoners reduced jail time in exchange for their testimony. The surviving witness of the three has