Should The Death Penalty Continue?
The death penalty,being highly looked upon from different viewpoints, has become a common controversy. The major question still remains: should it continue in the United States or should it be abolished. Though it may be easy to drift to a specific side of the controversy, the opposing sides must acknowledge that there are reasonable points to each belief. Those that believe that the death penalty should be abolished reason so on the side of those who were innocent yet slaughtered, ethical and ecological grounds, as well as the constitutional defects of the death penalty. While those that believe that capital punishment should continue assert that it provides justice for those who kill in cold blood, as …show more content…
Though a large population of America opposes capital punishment, the opposing side must recognize that there are many reasonable points that defend the death penalty. Many argue that the death penalty “offers ‘closure’ to victims and their families” ( Mario, par.2), and that “the justice of death for murders still outweighs everything else” (Dobbs, par. 2). A criminal should be put to death if he committed the crime of cold blooded murder. For instance, a day after July 30, 1978, a gang seized and robbed a family who tried to help them after the gang’s car got a flat. The gang then shot the family, starting with the 24 year old marine sergeant all the way down to his 22 month old toddler ( Kay, par. 1). The public responded with outrage, and the government sentenced the gang members to death. Jonathan Kay, a news reporter for the National Post, said that slaughtering a whole family in cold blood is one of the few crimes deserving of capital punishment( par. 3). Those in defense of the death penalty do not argue that the death penalty should be handed out freely, there are few crimes deserving …show more content…
Even the American Pharmacists association is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with continuing to provide the serum for the fatal injections (Marazziti,par. 7). The most argued point of attack on capital punishment is the innocent convicted and put to death, because there have been many cases where the innocent are found guilty in court. Take Rafael Suarez, in 1997 he was convicted of a crime another man had already pleaded guilty of. He spent 3 years in prison, and was lucky enough to be exonerated. He lost his house, job, plans, wife and 3 kids( Gross, par. 1). Then take Anthony Ray Hinton, who was convicted “ because he didn’t have the money to get the expert assistance he needed at trial” and due to “ racial discrimination” , as said by his lawyer ( Wolf, par. 3 and 2). Hinton said that “being on death row has taken so much from me as a human being”( Wolf, par 1). The Death penalty takes so much from innocent people, who actually are exonerated,therefore it takes far more from those killed. There is no more powerful argument than risking killing a human being (Wolf, par 3). Yet a study published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that 1 in every 25 defendants sentenced to death in the United States are later found innocent ( Gross, par 1). This is because “ evidence in capital
The death penalty,being highly looked upon from different viewpoints, has become a common controversy. The major question still remains: should it continue in the United States or should it be abolished. Though it may be easy to drift to a specific side of the controversy, the opposing sides must acknowledge that there are reasonable points to each belief. Those that believe that the death penalty should be abolished reason so on the side of those who were innocent yet slaughtered, ethical and ecological grounds, as well as the constitutional defects of the death penalty. While those that believe that capital punishment should continue assert that it provides justice for those who kill in cold blood, as …show more content…
Though a large population of America opposes capital punishment, the opposing side must recognize that there are many reasonable points that defend the death penalty. Many argue that the death penalty “offers ‘closure’ to victims and their families” ( Mario, par.2), and that “the justice of death for murders still outweighs everything else” (Dobbs, par. 2). A criminal should be put to death if he committed the crime of cold blooded murder. For instance, a day after July 30, 1978, a gang seized and robbed a family who tried to help them after the gang’s car got a flat. The gang then shot the family, starting with the 24 year old marine sergeant all the way down to his 22 month old toddler ( Kay, par. 1). The public responded with outrage, and the government sentenced the gang members to death. Jonathan Kay, a news reporter for the National Post, said that slaughtering a whole family in cold blood is one of the few crimes deserving of capital punishment( par. 3). Those in defense of the death penalty do not argue that the death penalty should be handed out freely, there are few crimes deserving …show more content…
Even the American Pharmacists association is becoming increasingly uncomfortable with continuing to provide the serum for the fatal injections (Marazziti,par. 7). The most argued point of attack on capital punishment is the innocent convicted and put to death, because there have been many cases where the innocent are found guilty in court. Take Rafael Suarez, in 1997 he was convicted of a crime another man had already pleaded guilty of. He spent 3 years in prison, and was lucky enough to be exonerated. He lost his house, job, plans, wife and 3 kids( Gross, par. 1). Then take Anthony Ray Hinton, who was convicted “ because he didn’t have the money to get the expert assistance he needed at trial” and due to “ racial discrimination” , as said by his lawyer ( Wolf, par. 3 and 2). Hinton said that “being on death row has taken so much from me as a human being”( Wolf, par 1). The Death penalty takes so much from innocent people, who actually are exonerated,therefore it takes far more from those killed. There is no more powerful argument than risking killing a human being (Wolf, par 3). Yet a study published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that 1 in every 25 defendants sentenced to death in the United States are later found innocent ( Gross, par 1). This is because “ evidence in capital