Johnny was born in a southern, strictly Baptist home. HIs parents would always
preach to him about why murder, adultery, and stealing is wrong. As a young and
disciplined boy, he was pretty much harmless. He was just a fine high school kid when
one day, his life changed forever. Johnny was convicted of a horrible crime, the worst in
fact: first degree murder. He didn't do it, of course, for he wouldn't hurt a fly. He went to
prison for a crime in which he had no involvement, and sat on death row for ten years.
Ten years of boredom, bullying, and rotten food. Johnny’s execution date came about,
and he was killed by means of electric chair. His parents were heartbroken! His father
stopped preaching because he had shamed the preachers’ dynasty by raising a criminal
of a son; his mother started dealing Oxycontin, was caught, and was put in jail for five
years. Six months after Johnny’s death and the downward spiral of his family, forensics
experts cross examined the evidence that Johnny had died for. From that process, they
discovered the truth: Johnny was innocent all along. He had nothing to do with the
crime, yet his life was lost because of it, and his parents’ lives ruined. Capital
punishment is a political right that needs to be disapproved, even abolished in the
United States.
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a national problem: 32
states support it while 18 states plus the District of Columbia have abolished it. In my
eyes, capital punishment should be disapproved in every state. Killing somebody,
whether for justice or not, is morally horrible. Not only that, it directly disobeys our
Constitution. In the 8th amendment, the Constitution says that cruel and unusual
punishment is a no-go. Our founding fathers created this amendment because the Sons
of Liberty, back in Revolutionary times, would cruelly and unusually punish the British
(mostly tax collectors). Their most famous method of inflicting punishment upon the
Redcoats was to tar-and-feather. This means to pour hot tar all over one’s skin, sprinkle
them with feathers, and ridicule them by making them out to be a chicken while their
body is burning. Cruel and unusual could be words to describe modern death penalty
methods as well: electric chair, lethal injection, lethal gas, firing squad, and lynching.
Execution does not only affect the executed and their families, it affects the executioner
as well. Do you think members of the firing squad like killing people? Do you think the
person that injects the poison feels giddy for the rest of the day? Well, they don’t! They
have to do it, to support both themselves and their families. They have jobs, just like
most adults have, but their jobs are different- they have to do the government's dirty
work. But, in the end, it’s merely for the money.
Actions that we can do now to express our disapproval of the support of this
horrific right may include the following: writing essays, protesting, signing petitions, and
starting nonprofit organizations. In the future, we could even run for political office to
publicly disapprove the right to the death penalty. All in all, capital punishment basically
screws the right to life and the right to pursue happiness, and should be abolished
forever.