Deserve The Death Penalty
Capital Punishment Deserves the Death Sentence
Capital punishment is a divisive topic in the United States, and reconsideration of this practice is a necessity as we progress socially as a nation. Capital punishment is an abysmal act and the fact of the matter is that it is morally wrong for a government to execute its citizens, no matter what heinous acts they may have committed. The American government was created to ensure certain rights for all of its citizens, based on their societal morals, however the government continues to practice an outdated, remorseless process brought over from England in the Colonial period. Although our founding fathers created America over 200 years ago, death row inmates still face cruel and unusual punishment …show more content…
In order to pass into law, legislation banning the death penalty would need to pass both houses of Congress with a 60% vote and be signed into law by the President of the United States. This law’s ratification relies primarily on the American people and how they choose to cast their votes or influence their representatives. Firstly, it is crucial that the general public be made aware of this imbalance in the American moral compass, as an informed electorate benefits everyone. Secondly, American citizens who are capable must vote for politicians who are opposed to the death penalty. For instance, Bernie Sanders is the only presidential candidate who is opposed to the death penalty for 2016 (Reilly), and so the American public must weigh that in their overall decision when voting. Eligible voters must also participate at a local level, as the POTUS cannot just make the death penalty illegal. Lastly, citizens can make individual financial donations to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, a lobbyist group advocating against capital punishment. In the American form of government, it is important that every citizen voice his or her opinion. This solution is not an easy one, especially considering the amount of political gridlock America has had for the last decade, but this is an imperative solution, and unfortunately the most …show more content…
Advocates of the death penalty repeatedly support their stance by referencing Supreme Court decisions, but regularly fail to consider that the Supreme Court may have a distorted way of thinking. Legal doctorate Stephanie Boys described former Chief Justice Berger’s originalist ideology for capital punishment rulings and its subsequent influence on all death penalty SCOTUS cases. Since America’s founding fathers created the Constitution when capital punishment was legal, Berger ruled in favor of the death penalty (108). Essentially he Supreme Court has upheld a barbaric practice on legal grounds from 200 years ago, without accounting for the progress American society has taken since then. Another advocate against capital punishment, Bryan Stevenson, a law professor at New York University, once stated in the book Debating the Death Penalty, "Ultimately, the moral question surrounding capital punishment in America has less to do with whether those convicted of violent crime deserve to die than with whether state and federal governments deserve to kill those whom it has imprisoned” (97). Bryan argues that although people who have committed heinous acts may deserve death, it does not mean that they should suffer it at the hands of our government. A government not killing its citizens should not be an article of
Capital punishment is a divisive topic in the United States, and reconsideration of this practice is a necessity as we progress socially as a nation. Capital punishment is an abysmal act and the fact of the matter is that it is morally wrong for a government to execute its citizens, no matter what heinous acts they may have committed. The American government was created to ensure certain rights for all of its citizens, based on their societal morals, however the government continues to practice an outdated, remorseless process brought over from England in the Colonial period. Although our founding fathers created America over 200 years ago, death row inmates still face cruel and unusual punishment …show more content…
In order to pass into law, legislation banning the death penalty would need to pass both houses of Congress with a 60% vote and be signed into law by the President of the United States. This law’s ratification relies primarily on the American people and how they choose to cast their votes or influence their representatives. Firstly, it is crucial that the general public be made aware of this imbalance in the American moral compass, as an informed electorate benefits everyone. Secondly, American citizens who are capable must vote for politicians who are opposed to the death penalty. For instance, Bernie Sanders is the only presidential candidate who is opposed to the death penalty for 2016 (Reilly), and so the American public must weigh that in their overall decision when voting. Eligible voters must also participate at a local level, as the POTUS cannot just make the death penalty illegal. Lastly, citizens can make individual financial donations to the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, a lobbyist group advocating against capital punishment. In the American form of government, it is important that every citizen voice his or her opinion. This solution is not an easy one, especially considering the amount of political gridlock America has had for the last decade, but this is an imperative solution, and unfortunately the most …show more content…
Advocates of the death penalty repeatedly support their stance by referencing Supreme Court decisions, but regularly fail to consider that the Supreme Court may have a distorted way of thinking. Legal doctorate Stephanie Boys described former Chief Justice Berger’s originalist ideology for capital punishment rulings and its subsequent influence on all death penalty SCOTUS cases. Since America’s founding fathers created the Constitution when capital punishment was legal, Berger ruled in favor of the death penalty (108). Essentially he Supreme Court has upheld a barbaric practice on legal grounds from 200 years ago, without accounting for the progress American society has taken since then. Another advocate against capital punishment, Bryan Stevenson, a law professor at New York University, once stated in the book Debating the Death Penalty, "Ultimately, the moral question surrounding capital punishment in America has less to do with whether those convicted of violent crime deserve to die than with whether state and federal governments deserve to kill those whom it has imprisoned” (97). Bryan argues that although people who have committed heinous acts may deserve death, it does not mean that they should suffer it at the hands of our government. A government not killing its citizens should not be an article of