The Death Penalty Should Be Enforced

The Death Penalty Should Be Enforced

The death penalty is a punishment that our country, the United States, still uses in order to punish certain crimes such as rape and murder. The penalty thus far has upheld our law and has inflicted fear in the minds of those who have merely thought about committing such horrific crimes. The death penalty should continue to be enforced in this country in order to punish those who violate the law by committing serious offenses because it will allow for maximum public safety. Also, the new wave of DNA technology allows for more accuracy in convicting these criminals.

The number one incentive when convicting these criminals of the barbaric crimes they may have committed should be the safety of the public and society. Once a person is proven guilty of murder the only punishment that suits that crime would be death. It may sound bizarre and inhumane but at the end of the day justice needs to be served. Sentencing a convict to life imprisonment would be another option, but the psychological aspect behind it is not the same anymore. Back in the day life imprisonment meant rehabilitation, "the bringing about of changes in the character of the convict in order to produce law-abiding behavior upon release (Van den Haag, 53)." According to Van Den Haag, a death penalty writer, rehabilitation worked quite well in the past, thus giving prisons the name "correctional institutions" and the guards "correctional officers". However as of now, the theory is much less favorable since there are no proven methods to help achieve the goals (Van Den Haag, 53). Therefore life imprisonment as opposed to the death penalty would give the convict the chance of parole allowing them to step back onto the streets and perhaps committing the crime again, maybe even worse this time. It only makes sense to correct the mistake the first time it happens, and the only suitable option would be the death penalty because it is the only punishment that fit's the crime, thus taking one more murderer off the streets.

Many people against the death penalty claim that there could be the chance of innocent people being wrongfully convicted. However, since 1986 deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) evidence is being administered in all United States courts ("DNA Technology" 175). As a result of this new wave of technology, concerns of a defendants innocence would be reduced,