capital punishment paper III
Wilynn Turner
Heather Sciarappa
English 122
Capital Punishment: Lethal Injection
Murder is wrong! Since childhood we have been taught this indisputable truth. Ask yourself, then what is capital punishment? In its simplest form, capital punishment is defined as, one person taking the life of another. Coincidentally, that is the definition of murder. There are 36 states with the death penalty, and that needs to change. These states need to abolish the death penalty on the grounds that, it carries a dangerous risk of punishing the innocent, is unethical and barbaric, it is an ineffective deterrent of crime versus the alternative of life in prison without parole and it is economical suicide for our nation. “An eye for an eye, makes the whole world blind,” Mahatma Gandhi. When the murderers of today are murdered by the government, is that not hypocrisy? As we sit in a jury box playing God, deciding who must live and who must die, we hand out the death penalty to teach society a lesson. We step into the shoes of God and pass an irreversible judgment to mask our pain or disdain. Why kill people who kill people to show killing is wrong? This is hypocrisy. In our judicial system, we do not rape rapists, make drunk drivers stand in front of a speeding car, or chop off the thieving hands of someone who steals. In Muslim practicing countries, the harsh punishment used to deter humans from stealing is to have the thieves hand cut off. This practice does not deter thievery and is considered barbaric and irrational in today’s American society. For some reasons unknown, we resort to a revenge mentality society when man kills man. A family who has lost a loved one due to a murder, will not find closure from the killer’s death. They will find closure with the acceptance and forgiveness in themselves. We cannot take away the life of another who may or may not be guilty of a crime.
Some people bring up the argument that some people are wrongly convicted of crimes they did not
Heather Sciarappa
English 122
Capital Punishment: Lethal Injection
Murder is wrong! Since childhood we have been taught this indisputable truth. Ask yourself, then what is capital punishment? In its simplest form, capital punishment is defined as, one person taking the life of another. Coincidentally, that is the definition of murder. There are 36 states with the death penalty, and that needs to change. These states need to abolish the death penalty on the grounds that, it carries a dangerous risk of punishing the innocent, is unethical and barbaric, it is an ineffective deterrent of crime versus the alternative of life in prison without parole and it is economical suicide for our nation. “An eye for an eye, makes the whole world blind,” Mahatma Gandhi. When the murderers of today are murdered by the government, is that not hypocrisy? As we sit in a jury box playing God, deciding who must live and who must die, we hand out the death penalty to teach society a lesson. We step into the shoes of God and pass an irreversible judgment to mask our pain or disdain. Why kill people who kill people to show killing is wrong? This is hypocrisy. In our judicial system, we do not rape rapists, make drunk drivers stand in front of a speeding car, or chop off the thieving hands of someone who steals. In Muslim practicing countries, the harsh punishment used to deter humans from stealing is to have the thieves hand cut off. This practice does not deter thievery and is considered barbaric and irrational in today’s American society. For some reasons unknown, we resort to a revenge mentality society when man kills man. A family who has lost a loved one due to a murder, will not find closure from the killer’s death. They will find closure with the acceptance and forgiveness in themselves. We cannot take away the life of another who may or may not be guilty of a crime.
Some people bring up the argument that some people are wrongly convicted of crimes they did not
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