In Support of the Death Penalty
In Support of the Death Penalty
The idea of putting another human to death is hard to completely fathom. The physical mechanics involved in the act of execution are easy to grasp, but the emotions involved in carrying out a death sentence on another person, regardless of how much they deserve it, is beyond my understanding. I know it must be painful, dehumanizing, and sickening. The Eight Amendment says” Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted” (Morgan 184). However, this act is sometimes necessary, and it is our responsibility as a society to see that it is done.
One of the first oppositions to the death penalty is error. However, the chance that there might be an error is separate from the issue of whether the death penalty can be justified or not. If an error does occur, and an innocent person is executed, then the problem lies in the court system, not in the death penalty. Daily tasks performed by the average person always have a risk of death as do other dangerous acts and situations we put ourselves in on a daily basis. Examples of this are: flying in a airplane, driving a car, crossing the street and even more dangerous acts such as, parachuting, auto racing, and other extreme sports. These activities continue to take place, and occasionally take human lives, but we have all decided that the advantages outweigh the unintended loss, and we continue with our daily activities. We have also decided that the advantages of having dangerous murderers removed from our society outweigh the losses of the offender.
Another opposition is the length of stay on death row, with its endless appeals, delays, technicalities, and retrials keep a person waiting for death for years on end, and it is both cruel and costly. The main cause of such inefficiencies are the appeal process, which is also an argument more against the court system then the death penalty itself. It is costly, but I do not believe it to be anymore costly then supporting a hard criminal in the prison system for their whole life sentence. This could be as long as seventy-five years or more. When it is said that making a prisoner wait for years to be executed is cruel, then would it not be just as cruel to keep the criminal imprisoned for...