Argumentative Essay: Should We Still Support The Death Penalty

Steve Earle is just one of the many protesters of the death penalty, stating “. . . The death penalty is based on the idea that this is a democracy, and in a democracy the government is me, and if the government kills somebody then I am killing somebody.” His quote is one of many negative views people have on the death penalty. The death penalty is based around the idea that it is acceptable to execute someone for killing. However, this is disagreed on by many Americans. In a survey from the PEW Research Center, results show that 56% of Americans still support the death penalty, compared to the 62% in 2011, and the 78% in the 1996 survey. The percent of people that still support the death penalty is at an all-time low, and is drastically dropping. This is an almost surefire indication that shows society wants the death penalty to be abolished. Although the death penalty is still an option in some states, it should be discontinued because of the immorality of execution, the staggering costs, and the potential injustices such as false execution. The principal reason why the death penalty should be discontinued is the immorality of
execution. In nearly all religions execution is considered immoral, and even non-religious people consider it to be obscene. In religions such as Christianity, the act of killing another individual is considered a sin. This results in the death penalty being widely regarded as corrupt. Another reason the death penalty is immoral is because it is just an act of revenge. The death penalty is given to people who have killed another person. This means it is punishing the person with the same crime they have committed. Even though this fits the cliché idiom “Give him a taste of his own medicine,” it is a hypocritical punishment. The death penalty is merely killing someone for killing, which makes the “law” just as bad as the killer himself. This point causes many people to protest against the death penalty. Another reason why the death penalty should be discontinued is because of the staggering costs.
The cost to execute a person is much more than it costs to put the person in prison for life without a chance of parole. In California, a study shows that death penalty trials are more than twenty times as expensive as putting someone in prison for life without the possibility of parole. California spends over $184 million on the death penalty each year, and many other states follow suit. If the death penalty is discontinued, the cash used on it could benefit the families tremendously. Families could use this cash to obtain counseling and other assistance to help them put their lives back together. Also, remaining cash can be used in other public assistance such as education, drug and alcohol treatment, and child abuse prevention
programs. The last main reason why the death penalty should be discontinued is because of the potential injustices it can cause, such as false execution. A document on the official Death Penalty website presents forty – four cases of “botched” executions. Many of these executions involved the victim suffering before death, causing the execution to be more like torture. Some doctors struggle to find the right vein to inject the “Lethal Injection” in, causing the victim to lay in agony for up to an hour. Other’s involving electrocution cause the victim to barely survive the first electric shock, leaving them in tormented pain. Some of these executions even ended up to be false. One of these such cases was Cameron Willingham. In 2004, Cameron Todd Willingham was convicted for setting a fire that killed his children, and was executed. After the execution however, evidence arose that led to the conclusion that Willingham was innocent. This false execution caused many people to protest the death penalty in Texas, but it remains there despite its problems.