A painful justice

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In 1972 Capital Punishment was abolished because the Supreme Court officials ruled it to be a “cruel and unusual punishment” as per the 8th Amendment of the US Constitution. After only a four year hiatus the Court reestablished the death penalty. At that time each state was required to rewrite their death penalty laws, and it was ruled as “constitutional” (Death Penalty).
Society has been divided on this issue for many years. Coming to a compromise on this matter would greatly reduce the amount of violent crimes we see across our nation every day. The death penalty should be used in first degree murder cases because it is more cost effective in the long term, helps ease the swelling of over populated prisons, and it will help deter others from committing premeditated murder (“Death Penalty”).Out of twenty-one countries that uphold a death penalty the United States has held the fifth ranking for the highest amount of executions over the past five years. This comes as no surprise to Brian Evans of Amnesty International. He states that “The U.S. has a strict attitude toward punishment in general. Having a severe attitude toward the death penalty is only natural when you consider that the U.S. leads the world in mass incarceration of prisoners and holds records for solitary confinement and sentences to life in prison.” (Evans). Out of the past thirty-seven years there are thirty-two states that support the death penalty. Those remaining thirty-two states, along with the US Military and the US Government, use lethal injection as their primary form of execution. In the event that a state is unable to obtain the drugs needed for the execution or if the inmate asks for an alternative method, the following options are available, on a stat...

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...gue and even oppose the death penalty as an option altogether. I can respect the fact that they will not sway on this matter because of their religious beliefs. However, the Bible speaks of criminals being sacrificed on the cross, being stoned with pebbles and rocks, and hung for all to see. Some scriptures can be quoted in full support of the death penalty. These religious organizations have the belief that you cannot teach killing is wrong simply by killing more people (DeathPenalty). They believe, that everyone has the right to live, even those who commit murder. They also feel that convicting a person and sentencing them to die violates their human rights. The quality of life should never be taken for granted. Despite that, giving a convicted murderer a chance to live out the remaining part of his life behind bars only creates more concern for those around them.

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