Death Penalty Synthesis
Death Penalty Synthesis The death penalty goes back as far as the 17th century. From burning alive to beating to death, the death penalty was carried out in some of the cruelest and most painful ways one could imagine. Although more efficient ways of execution have been discovered, such as lethal injections, capital punishment is still ruthless and a lot of times unnecessary. Capital punishment is like the easy way out of dealing with criminals by “eliminating the complexities of judge and jury” (Source J), when there are much more efficient punishments that could be used when dealing with a felony. Capital punishment should not be used for so many different reasons; it is immoral, very costly and mistakes that could be prevented happen way too often. Some may argue that capital punishment should be used to remove the criminal because they are dangerous and they deserve to be executed but “the deed is done and taking another life cannot change” (Source A) the fact that one life is already gone. There are other ways of preventing the culprit from harming others, such as removing them for society by putting them in jail. Being sentenced to “life imprisonment is a far more practical form of retribution” (Source F) for the defendant; it’s much fairer, more efficient and a lot less cruel than execution. Citizens are just as safe when the criminal is in jail as they would be if capital punishment was used. Plus, if the criminal was eventually found guilty then they could be freed from jail. According to the Declaration of Independence, “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person” (Source B). Capital punishment “violates the constitutional ban against cruel and unusual punishment” (Source K) by taking away the right to life that every citizen has. The criminal has the right to “equal protection under the law” (Source K) no matter what the situation might be. The death penalty is promoting violence more than anything else. Executing someone