Argument Against Capital Punishment

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Welcome to America, the land of the free, of the prosperous, of the opulent. America the Beautiful, one of the only places in the world where all citizens regardless of race, background, or social class are constitutionally guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—that is unless you're on death row. In modern day America we are still faced with the antiquated ritual of capital punishment, a practice that interferes directly with the law of the land. The same forms of punishment used during the middle ages are still in effect today, the same ideas that should have been abolished had the U.S. government revised it's penology. Capital punishment is cruel as well as unusual and inadequate for our advanced society. The United States is known world wide as a place of freedom, however standing alone as one of the few Western countries with the death penalty still in motion reinforces an idea that the United States is bound by past barbaric practices.
The U.S. Constitution clearly states that each and every citizen is undeniably granted rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, capital punishment seems to challenge that statute. The state and federal governments can deem any individual convicted of a horrid crime fit and that individual can be subject to execution. "We see the death penalty as perpetuating a cycle of violence and promoting a sense of vengeance in our culture….we cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing” (U.S. Catholic Conference). Killing is wrong, whether it’s an action portrayed by a single person or a government. How is killing people who kill people going to act as a deterrent for murder? If anything it encourages it, condones it even, giving off the message: murder is okay...

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... for their sakes, before he received his lethal injection” (Thorson). The government is allowing such an easy way out for these criminals, death may be just a bit too good for them.

Bibliography
"A Good Friday Appeal to End the Death Penalty." United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. 01 Nov. 2013. Speech.
Eddlem, Thomas. "Ten Anti-Death Penalty Fallacies." The New American.com. N.p., 03 June 2002. Web. 01 Nov. 2013
Mehas, Michael. "Seven Fallacies of Capital Punishment." iSnare.com Free Articles. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2013.
"The Case Against the Death Penalty." American Civil Liberties Union. N.p., 11 Dec. 2012. Web. 01 Nov. 2013.
Thorson, David. "The Death Penalty: An Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth...Too Easy?" Examiner.com. N.p., 17 Dec. 2010. Web. 01 Nov. 2013.
“Should the Death Penalty Be Allowed?” ProCon.com. N.p., 20 Oct. 2013. Web. 1 Nov. 2013.

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