Should the Death Penalty be Abolished?
Everyone has different beliefs about the death penalty. Some people believe it is barbaric and inhumane to put someone to death who has been convicted, while others feel that the death penalty gives resolution to the victim's family and friends. The death penalty is used to punish criminals for the wrong they have done. However, I believe that killing a person to "punish" them is not enough. People cannot suffer and think about the anguish they have caused people if they are put to death. Keeping the criminals alive and doing manual labor for the rest of their lives, without parole, is a better method of punishment.
The way the government is now, many criminals are sentenced to death and may remain on death row for many years. Our tax money is being used to keep these people alive while they are waiting to be put to death, and then more money comes out of our taxes to actually put them to death.
In rare occasions, the government has accused the wrong person and the innocent person dies. The death penalty is irrevocable and nothing can suffice for the innocent life that has been taken away.
The death penalty has many unanswered questions. For example, many people think the death penalty is a racial situation. Studies have shown this perception to be true as one study concluded that "over the past century, black offenders, as compared with white offenders, were often executed for crimes less often receiving the death penalty, such as rape and burglary" (Death Penalty). Another example is that the death penalty can be seen as sex discriminating and socio-economically discriminating. "During the 1980's and aerially 1990's only about one percent of all those on death row were women, even though women commit about 15% of all criminal homicides"(Death Penalty). Discrimination of social classes is also an issue. "A defendant's poverty, lack of firm social roots in the community, inadequate legal representation at trial or on appeal"(Death Penalty)...
