“Capital Punishment”
“Capital Punishment is a very contentious issue. Supporters of capital punishment argue that it deters crime and prevents recidivism, and is the perfect punishment for the crime of murder. As opponents against capital punishment argue that it does not deter criminals more than life in imprisonment, violates human rights, leads to executions of some who are wrongfully convicted, and discriminates against minorities and the poor (Wikepidia). The right of a state to sentence an individual to death is a highly controversial issue in all parts of the world. It involves our desire for justice and our moral principles of tolerance for the price of such justice. Although there is many crimes that are being committed daily, I consider not only murder but also any heinous crime committed towards another individual such as, the rape of a child and the intent of murder to be the ultimate crimes. There is a fine line to what is and should be acceptable in our society and these crimes I feel are totally unacceptable and should be only punishable by the death penalty without exception. Nonetheless, such a criminal does not deserve to live out the rest of their life in prison with the guarantee of three meals a day and humane treatment, when they have taken away a child’s chance at a normal life or ends an individuals life through murder, that individual’s rights should relinquished due to the nature of their crime. In essence our society has always used punishment as a means to discourage criminals from committing unlawful acts. In other words we use these criminals to set an example of the consequences and outcome of unlawful activities. The death penalty is the arguably the strongest way to deter crime in our world, because criminals will have to think twice if they wanted to continue to live their life of freedom. Many criminologists have analyzed murder rates with the use of the death penalty but have found their results to be inconclusive. ”According to the FBI''s Preliminary Uniform Crime Report for 2002, the murder rate in the South increased by 2.1% while the murder rate in the Northeast decreased by almost 5%. The South accounts for 82% of all executions since 1976; the Northeast accounts for less than 1%”. (FBI Preliminary Uniform Crime Report 2002, June 16, 2003). Those who have been found guilty by the courts have the opportunity for to file an appeal; most death penalty inmates sit on death row with an average of ten to twenty years. (Texas DCJ) If there is a slight chance they are innocent, I believe they have an opportunity to prove their innocence through their appeals. Therefore if found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt a second time, it is more than likely that they are guilty and do belong on death row. Although it is a fact that inmates have been released after proven innocent, it is also a fact that not everyone on death row is innocent. Most of these inmates claim their innocents, not because they are, but because they refuse to take responsibility for their crimes. “According to a new report issued by Amnesty International, race continues to play a strong role in U.S. death penalty cases. Amnesty states that: Even though blacks and whites are murder victims in nearly equal numbers of crimes, 80% of people executed since the death penalty was reinstated have been executed for murders involving white victims.”(Amnesty International) Although it is a sad and baffling fact that the majority of death penalty inmates are minorities, the fact that of they have committed an unlawful act does not change. It does not and should not matter whether you are a minority, black or white. If you haveommitted a heinous crime you deserve to be on death row! There are no racial boundaries set by law, every individual human being have the same rights when it comes to the law, even if you are purple if someone has committed an unlawful act towards you, you have the right to file a complaint. Therefore these so called studies on the race of individuals sitting on death row I feel has no merit, it is simply just another tactic to try and gain sympathy from others and point fingers to everyone else, in the hopes that they loose focus on the fact of the matter which is; that these minorities have committed a serious crime. In conclusion, I am in favor of capital punishment; I feel that it should be used in every part of our nation.
Work Cited Page Wikepedia. 2007. 07 April 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment FBI Preliminary Uniform Crime Report . 2003. 07 April 2007 http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article Texas Department of Criminal Justice. 2007. 07 April 2007 http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/drowfacts.htm Amnesty Report. 2007. 07 April 2007 http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article 4