The Death Penalty

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The Death Penalty

"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." This is another way for someone to

say they are supportive of the death penalty. The death penalty, to me, is

revenge. It kills innocent people every year. Many of the families of

victims do not want the criminals to be put to death. The death penalty

costs more than a life sentence in jail. It is also racists.

"Since 1976, there have been five hundred twenty-three executions in

the United States, twenty-three in 1999 alone. There was only eleven before

1984. Then the number rose to twenty-one that year. The number of execution

stayed around twenty then dropped to eleven in 1988. Then it steadily rose

from there to seventy-four executions in 1997. That was the highest since

1976."(Death Penalty Information Center, P.1)

There are many different methods of execution used by the government.

The most common is lethal injection used by thirty-four states.

Electrocution is another method, which is used by ten states. The gas

chamber is used in five states. There are still two states today that use

hanging as a method of execution. And two other states use a firing squad.

The death penalty is also extremely racist. There have been

significantly more executions of minorities than white Americans. Capital

punishment also goes against the Constitution of the United States.

Amendments eight and fourteen state that no cruel and unusual punishment can

be inflicted, and no state can deprive any person of life liberty or

property. The death penalty clearly takes these privileges away from

American citizens.

"More than 2000 people are on death row today. Virtually all are

poor, a significant number are mentally retarded or other wise mentally

disabled. More than forty percent are African American and disproportionate

numbers are Native American, Latino, and Asian." (American Civil Liberties

Union) It does not seem fair that only these people are dying. The

Constitution states that everyone should be given a fair trial. These

statistics do not prove to me that these people had a fair trial.

Everybody makes mistakes. If a jury makes a mistake and a person is falsely

accused of murder when they find out they messed up they want to take the

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