Capital Punishment

A detailed Summary of Capital Punishment

Justice cannot be served until the debate on capital punishment is resolved and all states have come to agree that the death penalty is the best way to stop crime completely. "The bottom line is, one method of execution is just as brutal and as barbaric as the next," says Mr. Breedlove of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. This comes straight from the mouth of a member of a national organization against capital punishment. Execution is defined as the act or an instance of putting to death or being put to death as a lawful penalty. So if Breedlove's words hold true, then what he believes is that a person going out and killing another human being is barbaric. In a sense isn't that what he's saying, that one way of killing someone is just as bad as any other? So if he finds this so barbaric, why is he trying to stop those who are against it?

Many people who are against capital punishment are only thinking of the criminal and how cruel it is for them. But, shouldn't we think of the families that are broken apart now because of the merciless acts of these criminals. Think of Susan Smith, how she knowingly drove her car off into a lake with her two children strapped to the seats. Think of how they must

Most of those against capital punishment argue that the forms of execution are gruesome.

But was it justice that she was not put to death for killing her two children? How could someone possibly let her off the hook for such a crime? They said it would be just as bad for her to be in that cell alone because of her depression, but does it justify her cutting short the lives of two innocent children?

have felt as the cold water started to fill the cabin of the car, and ultimately drown them. Barbaric is exactly the word I would use to describe her actions. But yet, the jury rejected the death penalty and chose a life sentence instead. Mr. Smith, the father of the two children, broken up from the ruling said, "Me and my family are disappointed that the death penalty was not the verdict, but it wasn't our choice. They returned a verdict they thought was justice" (Bragg, pg.1+).

Unlike in the nineteenth century, we do not make our executions as public as they did. We do not take the criminal and hang them in the streets in broad daylight for everyone to see. It was a fanfare ritual back then. Now it is just an unseen deed done at prisons. We should bring it back into the open so that everyone can see the consequences of their crimes. It would send out the signal that anyone who can commit the crime can also pay for it.

Some will argue that capital punishment is such a harsh and uncivilized way of treating criminals, but first look at how they act. They do not care about the lives of those they have destroyed. They're the ones that make this nation uncivilized. If anything, the death penalty is not enough. It can never bring back the loved ones to the families that have lost them. It can never bring back the innocent lives that have been taken in cold blood.

While some might be seen that way at first, others offer the advantages that both parties can agree on. In 1994 there were two hundred fifty seven executions in the United States. The three most common methods are electrocution, gas chamber, and lethal injection.

But does it do any good? Does executing someone for such

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Approximate Word count = 1443
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous