A country that prides itself on the taking the moral high-ground on all issues of importance should not turn a blind eye to the immoral nature of government-sanctioned murder. Capital punishment possesses irrefutable flaws that should not be ignored by our government and thus should be abolished.
Every few months CNN flashes pictures here and there of a scene outside a penitentiary. More often than not, that penitentiary is located in the Lone Star State, a state still associated with the vigilante justice of the Old West. Throngs of people crowd outside what is called the death house, jumping at the chance to have their mug plastered over the broadcast signals shouting at the top of their lungs, “burn in hell!” or “we want so-and-so to die!” I can’t help but think of my high school US history class when we discussed the Salem Witch Trials of the late 1600’s. We learned how people stood
Another argument for the capital punishment is that it prevents others from committing the crime due to the extreme punishment. However, capital punishment is NOT a deterrent to crime. It has been proven that states with the death penalty have a higher crime rate than states without it. Similarly, every other industrious country (who all abolished the death penalty many years ago) has a staggering lower homicide rate than the United States. This is not a coincidence – this is undeniable proof that capital punishment does not do what it is intended to do.
People argue that the death penalty is a way to heal the wounds of the victim’s families. They argue that if it was your son or daughter who was killed, you too would take solace in knowing that their murderer could never kill again. However, this is not necessarily the case. In fact, retribution by way of capital punishment often hinders the
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