Argument For the Death Penalty

Should any individual be killed for their crimes or mistakes? Adam Liptak, a writer for the New York Times, found that, “According to roughly a dozen recent studies, executions save lives. For each inmate put to death, the studies say, 3 to 18 murders are prevented.” Therefore, the death penalty must be upheld in the United States of America in order to protect its citizens and to properly enforce justice.

The death penalty ensures fair retribution for the loved ones of the criminal’s victim. In 1977, Clarence Ray Allen was convicted for murder after arranging the death of a witness against him in a burglary case and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without parole. In 1980, Allen organized the killings of the witnesses who had worked against him in his previous conviction. Finally, Allen was sentenced to death, but it wasn’t until 2006 that he was executed (Ardaiz). During those twenty-six painful years, the families and loved ones of the victims had to spend their days knowing that the one who had torn apart their family was still alive. As James A. Ardaiz, a former judge, and the prosecutor on the case of Allen, so succinctly put it, “Retribution is not only a need of society; it is a right of those victimized.” One person who the death penalty brought peace to was John Rizzotti. Rizzotti’s 78 year old great grandmother was sexually abused and murdered in1980 by Manuel Babbitt, and Rizzotti says that his family found relief in Babbitt’s execution in 1999. Rizzotti recounts that the legal process from conviction to execution was frustrating, but he believes that the families of murder victims have the right to see the murderers put to death. “What he did and how he did it was so unbelievably gruesome that there w...

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