“There is no justice in killing in the name of justice.” - Archbishop Desmond Tutu. For centuries, murdering someone for committing a crime has been welcomed and accepting into societies. If you commit a minor enough crime, such as theft or drug possession, you get arrested and only have to go to jail for some amount of years before you are free to go out into the world again. When you choose to commit a crime, it goes unsaid that you will most likely have to face the consequences of that crime. But what if the crime you committed was so terrible that you may be put to death for it? This controversial topic is called the death penalty. Those who commit the most heinous and evil crimes may become the victims of receiving this punishment. They will be strapped up on and table and executed. This is not a new idea, it has been an ongoing feud for many years, the United States is still trying to decide if we should accept it, alter it, or abolish it all together. Although many people believe that the death penalty is a good way to serve justice to those deserving of it, it should be abolished because of the expenses that come along with it, the inhumane acts that work hand and hand with it, and the idea that life without parole is a worse punishment than the death penalty.

Like any argument, there are two major sides to this topic, there are people for the death penalty and people against the death penalty. They most sharply disagree on whether or not committing a crime should be punished by, in essence, committing another crime. Of course there are pros and cons for each side. Those who see the death penalty as justified believe that if someone did something so wrong as killing someone then they themselves should be killed. They believe that this is justice for the worst criminals and murderers out there. Those who are against the death penalty see it as inhumane. As Steve Earle once said, “My objection to the death penalty is based on the idea that this is a democracy, and in a democracy the government is me, and if the government kills somebody then I’m killing somebody.” We must take a stand when it comes to our country’s actions. We cannot sit and watch the things we disagree with happen. The people of the United States represent our country and our country represents democracy and with that comes rules that are formed to be obeyed. Many people believe the death penalty goes against the eighth amendment of The Constitution that states no cruel or unusual punishment should be inflicted. One of the most basic argument those against the death penalty say is “Why would you kill people who kill people to show that killing people is bad?” A kill for a kill is not only inhumane but also hypocritical. Those against the death penalty also may argue that it is way too expensive to execute someone. There are practical arguments to both sides and I believe that is why this topic is still very controversial. Everyone knows that killing is wrong. Although this may be obvious it is really the only thing that both sides agree on. Both arguments do agree that murders should have a terrible punishment. Those for and those against the death penalty still want consequences for these criminals, it is just a matter of how severe that punishment may be and what their definition of “severe” truly is. The disagreement on how these criminals will be punished is still at question. Some people want them gone and killed but some just want them to have a long life in prison without parole, that in itself is a worse punishment than death. They disagree on this because of core values and their own judgment of how these criminals should be dealt with.  

The death penalty has been around for decades all over the world. Although some states in the United States have abolished the death penalty, some still practice it. Most countries, such as Canada, Germany, and France,  have already abolished the death penalty. The United States is one of few countries who still use this as punishment. They use methods such as lethal injection, electrocution, hanging, firing squad and lethal gas. The most common methods are lethal injection and electrocution. In 1972 the criminal case Furman vs. Georgia abolished the death penalty because of the cruel and unusual punishment which went against the eighth amendment (Schabas). This gave states the rights to rewrite their death penalty rights and each state got to separately make decisions for themselves. This did not last long because in 1976 capital punishment was reinstated in the Gregg vs Georgia court case (Randa). 

So why should we care about the death penalty? The death penalty is an extremely hard topic to talk about, but we need to start talking. It is in need of reform because of the many negative connotations that come along with it, one being discrimination. Many studies have shown that the death penalty is racially bias. According to “Death by Discrimination” eighty percent of people executed since 1977 were those who killed white people. In some cases, the judges base their decision solely from race. A judge will connect more with a victim if they are the same race as them, thus giving them a harsher sentencing. This could cause wrongly executions because they are only focusing on the victim’s wealth, race, ethnicity or other factors. The death penalty has taken many lives of those who are innocent. Some people were on death row for years but finally exonerated because of new evidence that was found for the case. Some people were not as lucky and were actually executed as an innocent. In Texas, a 17-year old boy was sentenced to death with no prior convictions. He wrote a letter saying he was framed and there was no physical evidence found (Olsen). How does our country come back from that? Knowing that a minor was killed for no reason, where is the justice in that? If we cannot completely prove that someone is guilty, how can we sentence them to death? Even with all of these unanswered questions, thirty-one states still have the death penalty; these include South Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, Washington, Arizona, and Mississippi (States With and Without the Death Penalty).

Some people believe that the death penalty is not expensive because they think all you have to do is execute someone. But, the amount of years spent on death row and all the equipment needed adds up to substantial amounts of money that taxpayers end up paying for. These costs mostly come from all the trials that occur while the criminal is on death row. Many studies and calculations have been done to determine the price of the death penalty versus life in prison. In Pennsylvania each execution costs $272 million (Brambila). Death penalty cases are so expensive because they require more lawyers, investigations and witnesses. The average cost for a case when there is no death penalty is around one million (Brambila). This money can be spent on plenty of other things in these states, including public safety, investigation of other crimes or education. The death penalty is wasting money that could be used in a more efficient way.

To kill someone because they killed someone is inhumane. Those who are asked to do the killings also have to live a life with guilt because of each life they took away. A prison warden in Florida said, “I’ve been haunted by the men I was asked to execute in the name of the state of Florida. This is a premeditated, carefully thought out, ceremonial killing” (McAndrew). Many prison guards are emotionally scarred from having to go through that process with the inmate on death row. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. As cliché as this might sound, it is very true especially regarding the death penalty. Revenge is not something we should use as a punishment. Killing a victim’s murderer will not bring them back or help the victim’s families fill the void that they feel because of this murderer. Some people believe that these types of criminals deserve a second chance. If you kill them, then there is no redemption, there is no way they can learn and grow into better human beings. Most of these criminals come from terrible backgrounds. They have had bad family life or have been abused, some are even mentally handicapped. Most witnessed violence or grew up being physically abused. While this is not all the criminals that commit these crimes, it does account for a lot of them. Violence is all these kids knew and saw, their upbringing played a major role in their actions to commit the crime. In the Ted Talk by David Dow he talks about death penalty lawyers and how they have now entered earlier into the situation rather than later when the death row inmate is about to be executed. If you intervene earlier, you are more likely to save their lives. He argues that to solve the problem you have to make the issue bigger and more known. He wants to intervene in the life of a murderer before he is a murderer. Some of these criminals have serious mental illnesses (Dow). They do not think like a normal person and are still executed despite their illness. These people need special help to come back from what they have done. If they are mentally ill, they are not all there. There could be something missing that tells them what is right and wrong. They should not die for something that could be prevented with the right help. 

The wait that criminals spend on death row is also inhumane. Criminals can be on Death Row for many years, most of the time up to thirty years. These inmates live in small rooms with crazy accommodations. They are locked away in “cages” for almost all hours of their days. They are given food through slots, and only able to talk to visitors through glass on a phone that is being monitored at all times. The door being locked all day can cause very serious mental health issues. Some inmates have gone insane waiting for the day their life will be taken from them. The wait for death row can be the absolute worst part for these prisoners. Many say that inmates are in a living hell. They are not treated or even seen as humans. This terrible environment can be found in other places aside from the United States (Bradford). 

Sometimes dying can be seen as the easy way out. The criminals who get the death penalty don’t have to live their life with the guilt of knowing what they did. They don’t have to endure the same pain that their victims did. After being on death row they probably will want to die anyway. Life in prison is a worse punishment than the death penalty. This way these criminals have to endure the guilt of what they did every day. Every day they will wake up knowing what they did is the reason they are stuck there for life, that it is all their fault. It is the difference between dying a quick death or having to live through a lifetime of remorse. Spending the rest of your life in prison, growing old and sick, would be a terrible experience. This can be seen as a harsh and unforgiving punishment for those criminals, without having to kill them. These prisoners are in high security prisons with very little privileges. Their life will not be filled with the happiness that they know they could have had; they do not have a good life waiting for them in prison. Therefore, spending a lifetime in prison is a worse punishment than the death penalty.

While a prisoner could sit and rot in jail, most prisons offer rehabilitation programs. Although most of these prisoners will never be released from jail, they can still work on themselves and try to be a better person. While some people may just be plain evil, others do still have good in them somewhere. Those who committed these heinous crimes as a juvenile should have the chance to reform themselves. Seventy-nine percent of juveniles witnessed violence as a child, thirty-two percent grew up in public housing and forty percent had been enrolled in special education classes (Rovner). If this is not taken into consideration the idea of reforming may be taken away from these juveniles; leaving them no room or time to change. Everyone has something they regret doing as a teenager, some more serious than others, but there is still that regret. Of course we cannot go back in time to alter what we did but that does not mean that we cannot make up what happened for the rest of our lives. We have a lifetime to make change in ourselves and continue to grow as a person every day. Execution is the most permanent form of punishment and it can never be taken back. 

“Stockton College of New Jersey concluded that the majority of studies that track effects over many years and across states or counties find a deterrent effect” (Muhlhausen). Many people believe that the death penalty deters murders because it makes people not want to commit crimes. It inflicts fear into society and therefore crime rates are lowered. Some even say it saves lives because murderers will stop murdering. But shouldn’t prison be scary enough for these murderers?  There is evidence that murders do fall, but there is no way that you can tell what the cause of the falling rates is. Other reasons murder rates rise and fall can be due to things like a higher police presence. It is hard to know why the murder rates fall and even harder to pinpoint it as being the death penalty. An FBI study showed the states without the death penalty have homicide rates lower than the average rate (Kamin). A criminal who is willing to end some one’s life, is not going to not do it because of the possible punishments. They just simply do not care what the consequences may be. 

Aside from the criminal in question, the victim’s family is also part of why the death penalty can be controversial. Some people argue that the death penalty allows families of the victim to be happy and free of the killer. They believe that it gives them closure and allows them to move on knowing that the killer is dead and can’t haunt them. Killing is always wrong, no matter who you are killing or how bad of a person they may be. While some prisoners may form gangs and continue to kill within the prison, most are in solitary confinement and under maximum security. Some argue that families feel better when the murderer is dead because “it disconnects the victim’s peers from the murderer” (Gibson), but this is not always the case. A family who has been through such a traumatic experience may never feel disconnected from the murderer. Their grief is not going to be settled or disappear if the criminal is dead. With alternatives to the death penalty, the families left behind of the victims that were murdered do not have to sit through years of trials waiting for the murderer to be executed, they can rest easy and move on knowing that the prisoner is behind bars forever. Every death penalty trial would be another reminder to the family about the loved ones they lost. Rather than going through years of court cases and countless years of appeals, these families can be start to move on with one swift verdict of life without parole.

Overall, the death penalty should be abolished in the United States because of how expensive it is, how it goes against the eighth amendment, and it is inhumane. No human should be able to take the life of another human, so why do we accept this as a punishment? The death penalty is not only wrong, but unnecessary. Life without parole is just as bad, if not worse, as a punishment. Once you think about all the factors and people that go along with the death penalty you can see why it should be ended all together. But why should we, as citizens, care? How does this affect us personally? If you are a taxpayer, you are paying for the death penalty. It is paid for by taxpayers, each and every one of us is using our hard earned money to help our government kill another person. Citizens of the United States should not have to pay for such thing especially when it goes against the foundation and beliefs of our country. Together we can end the death penalty forever if we take action. There are many groups and programs that meet to defend our rights and help end the death penalty. Donating money to the Innocence Project, becoming a part of a group, the smallest things make a world of difference. If we can make this problem bigger and more known than it is more likely to be solved. Problems can only get solved if someone does something about them.  So stand up for what you believe in, speak up and spread the word. The death penalty is never the answer.
