Capital Punishment Is Wrong

The Hammurabi Code says “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, while Mahatma Gandhi says, “an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”. Who is right? Supporters of capital punishment argue that it deters crime and gives closure to families of victims, while others say that is has not been proven to deter crime and it opens the possibility of executing innocent people.

In order to understand capital punishment, one must first know the root of where and when it all began. In the United States it was first introduced through British influence , whenever European settlers arrived in the New World, they brought along the practice of capital punishment and America later followed suit . Since the 1700s there has been 15,760 executions, through various methods, such as electrocution, lethal injection, hanging, firing squad, etc; The primary method used when the death penalty was freshly introduced was hanging (Reggio). Meet George Stinney Jr, who is the youngest person who was given the death penalty in the 20th century.

Capital punishment allows for people like Stinney to be taken advantage of because of the color of their skin, and lack of access to proper legal counsel. In a country whose pledge proudly states, “liberty and justice for all”, but in the fine print the system’s actions says to them “except for people like you and you.” They are tired and defenseless. Money is the priority, rather than true justice. The criminal justice system has failed them. America has failed them. Montesquieu, in “The Spirit of the Laws” said, “There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.” The criminal justice system in the United States has committed a great injustice, and the promise of equality has yet to be