Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished?

Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished? In the United States all 50 states have some form of the death penalty. 35+ states use lethal injection, 9 use electrocution, 11 use the gas chamber, 3 use hanging and 3 use a firing squad (Methods). In Ohio we use lethal injection as a sole method and in 2009 Ohio adopted a one-drug protocol using only sodium pentathol (Methods). People on death row are usually put there for committing violent crimes. Ohio currently has 142 people on death row, which is down from 147 a year ago (Beyerlein 8A). The question we are faced with is should Ohio abolish the death penalty? The death penalty in Ohio should be abolished and in all 33 states that use it because any way you look at it, it’s still taking someone’s life. On the opposing side, in the article by Bruce Fein the author of “The Death Penalty” believes that the death penalty should not be abolished. Fein states that “the death penalty is an awesome punishment. It should be applied sparingly to the most egregious and shocking crimes committed by the most unrepentant and callous offenders.” (146) He gives an example of the unspeakable crimes of Adolf Hitler committed in the Holocaust. More or less he is asking people how they could not want him to die for his crimes and why does he deserve life after all the lives he took? Many people ask those questions about all murderous criminals. My answer to that is murderous criminals do not deserve life on the outside but they deserve life in prison without the possibly of parole, not death. Tony Blair states that “No society can long exist if it tolerates murder. I believe in far worse punishment, and less costly alternative for society, for such a crime is life in prison without parole” (“Should Ohio abolish”). The cost of putting someone to death is greater than keeping a violent criminal in prison for life. According to Blair capital cases cost twice as much to prosecute. Mr. Blair also goes on to quote from an article in the