Capital Punishment to Be Abolished
Capital Punishment Under the Knife
Capital punishment is one of the most controversial topics among Americans today. Since every person has there own opinion on this topic, either for or against, the question always raised is "Is it morally right." The number of problems with the death penalty are enormous, ranging from innocence to racism, and these problems will never be resolved unless the death penalty is abolished. Capital Punishment also referred to as the death penalty, is the foolishly ordered execution of a prisoner as a punishment for a serious crime, often called a ''capital offense'' or a ''capital crime''. Some authorities that practice capital punishment limit its use to a small number of criminal offences, mainly treason and murder (Stem 49). Prisoners who have been sentenced to death are usually kept set aside from other prisoners in a special part of the prison until their execution. In some places this segregated area is known as "Death Row." Historically and still today, under certain systems of law, the death penalty was applied to a wider range of crimes, including robbery or theft (Stem 50). It has also been frequently used by the military for crimes including looting, disobedience, and uprising (Stem 52). This way of punishment has long past its expiration date and needs an immediate change. Like we say in America “in with the new, and out with the old.” This punishment has only one purpose; to terrorize not only the criminal, but the family and friends of them as well. There are many negative impacts on this controversial subject, but the main one is that innocent people will be executed instead of the real criminal. Thus, the criminal is still alive and the family has to go through misery finding out that their loved one is innocent. Even before finding out this the time leading to the execution and during the execution can build up so much stress, often resulting in strokes or heart attacks. Also, it must be remembered that criminals are real people too that have feelings just like the rest of the innocent people. Capital punishment needs to go and preferably fast.
The first issue that should be observed is that of innocence. Are there really innocent people on death row? At least twenty-three people have been executed who did not commit the crime they were accused of (Kuttner...