Despite this legalized status, a vocal group of opponents have raised questions regarding the constitutionality, fairness and effectiveness of capital punishment. This paper argues that opponents of the death penalty are misguided, and that the death penalty is a sad but necessary tool for American society.

Many well-meaning death penalty activists have argued for the abolition of the death penalty. However, as this paper will show, many of these reasons are misguided or illogical.

First, many opponents of the death penalty argue that the system is fraught with danger. The disparities in its application make the death penalty discriminatory towards ethnic minorities, the poor, the uneducated, and the mentally-challenged. Indeed, most of the people on death row are poor, uneducated. Many suffer from mental illness. Majority of those on death row are African American or Hispanic (Williams, 13).

However, this argument does not address t

Related to this, the advancement of DNA technology should help to allay fears of an innocent person accidentally being executed. Since every individual's DNA is unique, DNA is a very reliable identifier. Unlike other identifying marks like fingerprints and facial features, a person's DNA cannot be altered. Modern science can thus distinguish between individual DNA samples with great accuracy, making DNA a much-improved version of fingerprinting. Scientific techniques are also improving the reliability and efficiency of DNA testing. This new technique allows investigators to extract DNA evidence from smaller, older and less well-preserved biological evidence fragments (Gottried, 28-32).

While opponents have presented flimsy reasons in their call to abolish the death penalty, those who continue to support the death penalty make good points. Many of them view the death penalty as a tool of necessity, and are far from the vengeful people that they are often characterized.

The death penalty remains an emotionally-divisive issue until today. This is understandable, since executions should not be taken lightly. However, there are many important reasons why the death penalty must remain an option for juries in the United States.

he fact that people who are in jail have been convicted by juries of their peers. Also, studies have shown that though there are more minorities on death row, white defendants have been twice more likely to be executed than their African American counterparts. Many white death row inmates are executed an average of 15 months sooner than black defendants (Rothman and Powers, 44).

However, the possibility of a needle leeching poison into your blood is surely a powerful deterrent. It is an argument based not just facts, but largely on conventional wisdom and an understanding of human nature. As Charles Rice states, "Death is an awesome and awful penalty...that exert(s) a restraining effect on some criminals who would otherwise commit a crime (Johansen, 114).

Second, death penalty opponents point to the risk of executing innocent people. They cite statistics regarding how many death row inmates have later been found innocent. Between 1976 and 1981, more than 80 death ro

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Approximate Word count = 1496
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)