“An Eye for An Eye” Is Not the Answer
When a piece of paper rips, someone may decide to temporarily tape it back together.
Unfortunately, over time the stickiness will reduce and the tape will lose its stickiness and fall off. The paper will once again be ripped. A gross residue might even remain on the paper.
Similarly, the death penalty is temporary solution that only leads to a worse situation . It is a residue that has stained America. Capital punishment has caused major problems that hurt the people of the nation. Therefore, the death penalty should no longer be used in the United States.
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The death penalty is bad for the United States because the people who have died or are still alive, do not deserve to be put through this heartless process.
It is awful to imagine knowing someone does not deserve capital punishment, but still awaits their death. Just in the United
States, twenty people have been freed from death row. All together, they spent 289 years in prison (Innocence Project). 2 Around the Globe 150 people have gone through this process and were eventually saved. (Death Penalty Information Center)
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Thankfully these people were spared. But consider the people that have been executed already?
4 What if in the future their cases are reassessed and it is discovered that they didn’t deserve to perish?
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There is no way to reverse this punishment. Before more people die, capital punishment needs to be abolished. One example of this injustice was described by The Death Penalty Information Center which told the journey of Serena Butler.People like Serena Butler shouldn’t have to go through this horror.
Serena, at just age 17, was accused of killing her own baby. In addition to mourning over her lost baby, she also had to confront the idea that she was put on death row and could
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easily die. Thankfully, the 17 year old was eventually proven innocent.
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However, not everyone is as lucky as Sabrina Butler. There could be many executed who surely enough did not deserve to die. If the death penalty continues to be in use, who knows how many more innocent people will perish?
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Not only are innocent people potentially executed, another flaw of capital punishment is that it does not deter crime whatsoever.
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If this policy causes little effect on people who decide they want to commit crime, then it is useless.
Studies from the Journal of Criminology show that eighty-eight percent of top workers in criminology think that capital punishment provides no deterrent to people who commit homicide.(Death Penalty Information Center).
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That is a staggering number considering that all of the people who responded to the study were trained to understand this important issue. If so many professionals do not believe it is a deterrent, then why is it used?
10 Jeffrey Fagan from Columbia Law School, a well respected university, believes that people are having a lot of trouble finding evidence to support that it prevents crime.
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If intelligent people who are trained in this subject are having even a little trouble, then something is obviously wrong.
The death penalty was created to lower the percentage of crime. However, it has only caused a negative effect on the nation.
Even after knowing that the policy shows no deterrent to crime,some people still argue that capital punishment is needed. Although It seems like it provides closure for the victim’s
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family, it may not in many instances,.
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Many families feel that the death penalty should not exist.
As an example, Mrs.Popp who had to mourn over her murdered daughter, had explained to the prosecutor why the murderer should not receive a death sentence. She said that she did not want “her daughter's memory stained with someone's blood.” 13
There are many families that agree with Mrs. Popp that they would not want additional death to their own loved one’s passing. Many do not seek revenge. They only desire time to mourn over their loved one .
The death penalty only adds to the sorrow. Mrs.Popp now advocates the importance of abolishing the death penalty which is an important thing to do. The use of the death penalty should be halted because it only adds to the pain of the families who have already lost so much in their lives.
Although the previous counter argument seems valid at first glance, it is not and that contributes to why the death penalty is not benefiting the nation.
14 For many reasons, capital punishment should not be in effect from now on in a country that has suffered enough from its flaws. How can a policy so awful be kept in use?
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The time is now to advocate the importance of abolishing the death penalty. One can spread the word by creating websites that inform others of this cruel punishment. In addition, any time one shows up to the voting polls, they should make sure to vote against any law that allows people to be injected with a death sentence.
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