Eliminating the Death Penalty

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A phrase commonly presented in American society, “An eye for an eye,” is used to represent the ideology of the death penalty in the US. The death penalty also known as capital punishment is defined as punishment by death for a crime. In its simplest form, it is “state sanctioned killing (Jones).” Recent facts show that as of, “April 1, 2010, there are approximately 3,260 individuals,” waiting for their execution date while on death row in the US (“Death Penalty”) .It has been reported that, “since 1973 over 130 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence (“Death Penalty”).” The execution of an innocent citizen, along with the violation of the, “cruel and unusual clause” and the extensive cost of killing an inmate are all plausible reasons why the death penalty should be eradicated.

Nearly killing or taking away many precious years of life from an innocent individual in jail, to me, is enough reason to eliminate the death penalty. It is disturbing to think that the court system has killed someone's innocent father or has held someone’s innocent child captive for years and is a mental burden left on the minds of that individual’s unfortunate family. It is probably merely seen as a subtle mistake to the court because, “ courts do not generally entertain claims of innocence when the defendant is dead. Defense attorneys move on to other cases where clients’ lives can still be saved.” Although the number of people actually executed and claimed to have been innocent is only recorded at “23 people in the 20th century,” of the more than 1,000 people executed, it can only be assumed that there are more innocent individuals who were killed, than were recored (Jones). Truthfully, one person who is innocently ex...

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...being killed. Also, the killing of an individual because he has killed someone else is not what we as Americans have been taught to stand for. Lastly, the death penalty is certainly not the best economical solution for dealing with our troubled citizens. At the end of the day, these prisoners end up costing us as tax paying citizens, more dead than alive. I feel that the inmates that are on death row should no longer be subject to the death penalty and instead should be left to face life in prison.

Works Cited

Death Penalty Information Center. Web. 13 June 2011.

Jones, Eliot. "Capital Punishment: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions." IDEA: International Debate Education Association - Debate Resources & Debate Tools. 13 Nov. 2000. Web. 13 June 2011. .

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