Is the Response to Murder, Redrum?

Do you think death should be an example, telling people not to kill? Does it sound right to have the ability to take away someones life without completely knowing that they are guilty? The Death penalty allows all of this to happen. It allows people to get killed for committing crimes, usually for murder. The Death penalty is a barbaric response to crime and should be abolished.
The Death penalty is completely ironic. It gives the government the right to kill someone because they killed someone. How does this makes us better by doing the same as the murderer? The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) stated, “It [capital punishment] is immoral in principle, and unfair and discriminatory in practice... No one deserves to die. When the government metes out vengeance disguised as justice, it becomes complicit with killers in devaluing human life and human dignity. In civilized society, we reject the principle of literally doing to criminals what they do to their victims: The penalty for rape cannot be rape, or for arson, the burning down of the arsonist's house. We should not, therefore, punish the murderer with death... Capital punishment is a barbaric remnant of uncivilized society." Many people see the ineffectiveness and irony that the Death penalty presents, but still it continues.

Besides the irony, it is very expensive. One case cost more than a million dollars. It cost less money putting the criminal on life without parole. "Fourteen studies have estimated the costs of capital punishment, including one study of the federal death penalty and 13 state- or county-level studies. Each study concludes that the presence of capital punishment results in additional costs. However, there is substantial variation in the cost estimates. Among the five studies that compare the cost of a death sentence with the cost of a capital-eligible case in which no death notice is filed, the average (additional) cost per case is $650,000, but the estimates range from about $100,000 to more than $1.7 million…Cases receiving a death notice are approximately $517,000 more costly during the trial phase, $147,000 more costly during the penalty phase, and $201,000 more costly during the appellate phase than a capital eligible case where no death notice was filed…. On average, a death notice adds about $1,000,000 in costs over the duration of a case." (John Roman, PhD, Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute and Executive Director of the District of Columbia Crime Policy Institute) John Roman demonstrates to us that sentencing someone to death adds 1,000,000 more dollars to the case. This money can be used to actually help many people than just taking away one life.

One of the biggest reasons why Capital punishment is dead wrong is that it’s racist. In 2012 alone, 49% of the people of the Death sentenced-Defendants were Black. Almost half of the people were Black. Is this coincidental? Probably not. Isn’t it funny how most of the people put to death had a white victim? On other hands, when the victim wasn’t white the person accused wasn’t as likely to be sentenced to death. Why would there be a law that exist that only favors one race? Is this a fair for everyone else in the nation? If this barbaric law is going to exist, shouldn’t everyone should have equal rights?

People who agree to the Death penalty would probably say, “It takes away a heinous criminal off the streets for good .” Some people that were sentenced life in prison, proved their innocent and were let free. Capital punishment allows room for human error and could cause an innocent life to be taken away. Imagine if you were the person put on trial. You know that you are innocent, but no one believes you. Would you like for people to have the ability to take away your life because there is a law that says so? Wouldn’t you wish that death wasn’t an option? Life in prison gives the opportunity for a second chance at life. It lets you prove that you aren’t guilty, and there’s a possibility that you can be free.

People also say that the criminal “deserves” to die. If you really wanted them to suffer, death shouldn’t be the answer because it gives them the easy way out. They could just be locked up in jail with disgusting food, mean people, and hard labor for every day of their life.

We can put an end to this barbaric practice. Other states must follow the footsteps that states like Massachusetts and New york. This country, our country, must follow the footsteps of countries like Spain and the rest of Europe and abolish Capital punishment. Our civilization can progress without uncivilized customs like the Death penalty. Let’s make our country a better place. Let’s abolish the Death penalty from the United States of America!
Our America, the one that we all dream of, the one that represents freedom and equality, can finally come to reality.