Persuasive Essay Against Death Penalty

Despite the fact that over 135 countries across the globe have outlawed the death penalty and that there is little evidence to support its use, the United States remains as one of the few major industrialized nations that still execute prisoners. In every society, many cases occur where a criminal must be punished, so that they can be taught a lesson and be stopped from committing future crimes. There are many different ways of punishing criminals: one is the death penalty. The issue of the death penalty has been debated throughout history and even more so recently. Some people support the death penalty, since they say it is only fair for one to forfeit their life if they take the life of another. Many feel the death penalty is unfair, and

Most people know the threat of crime to their lives, but the question lies in the methods and action in which it should be dealt with. Around the world, the death penalty has been apportioned to those who have committed a variety of offenses from the time of ancient Babylon to present-day America. The Roman Empire made use of the death penalty liberally, as did the Church of the Middle Ages. As history tells us, capital punishment, whose definition is "A sanction issued by a court of competent jurisdiction imposing a sentence of death by means provide by statue," (Falcone 2005) is an acceptable and efficient means of deterring crime. “Today about 3,400 convicts are living on ‘Death Row’ in American prisons, meaning they have been sentenced to death and are awaiting execution"(Gaines 2009). The death penalty remains an effective method of punishment for murder and other heinous

There are other methods of punishment, such as long prison terms, which can serve as reparation for heinous crimes. The first cause of wrongful convictions is faulty or false information given by witnesses. For example, a U.S. Army Sergeant, named Timothy Hennis, was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in South Carolina in 1986. One witness said he saw Hennis at the site of the murder, but the witness had mistaken Hennis for someone who looked like him (Hughes 2008). Some witnesses lie to ensure the defendant is convicted of murder. This usually happens when the actual killer attempts to shift the blame to someone else, so they can get away with it. In most cases, it is rather difficult to tell who the murderer is, and is based most frequently on who can tell the most persuading story to police. Because of this, the death penalty is a poor solution in most cases, because it does little to solve the case in an accurate