Death Penalty Is the Use of Death

Death penalty is the use of death as a punishment for the crimes committed by an individual. In most cases, death penalty is administered by lethal drugs or by electrocution. There has been a lot of debate on the moral and ethical aspect of issuing death penalty to criminals and many human rights groups are advocating the use of long-term imprisonment without parole (LWOP) as an alternative to death penalty. But, are they really justified in opposing the death penalty? In many cases, this justification is not valid as it leads to more crime and higher taxes for the society.

Death penalty has been present in the United States from colonial times. The first ever recorded execution was in Jamestown in 1608 and since then, it has been used as an effective tool of punishment (Supreme Court Debates, Dec 2004). With such a long history, it is no surprise that we continue to use this form of punishment as a way to correct the crimes that take place in our society. When a murderer is executed, it instills fear in the minds of other criminals and this prevents them from murdering innocent people. Moreover, the criminals who have committed such a terrible act are not given a chance to re-renter society and to kill more people. Data shows that a number of prison inmates who are serving time for murder are not here for the first time. They were convicted of murder, released after serving their time and are back in there again for more murders! Death penalty is the right punishment for such inmates because they never get a chance to go out into the society again. Since death penalty saves lives in one form or another by taking the life of the person who has committed a criminal act, it is justified.

Another argument in support of death penalty is the amount of public money that is wasted on these criminals to provide them with adequate shelter, clothing, water, sanitation and food. Not to forget the salaries of armed guards who have to keep watch over them to prevent them from escaping or injuring other inmates. The countless man hours and resources spent in courts, appeals and decisions further increase the percentage of public spending on these criminals. They have committed a crime and are worthy of punishment and what they do not deserve is a decent life behind bars for the rest of their life at the cost of other important things that our society needs. This is a sheer wastage of public funds and in these tough economic times, we are better off directing these funds towards education and job creation.

One of the primary opposition to death penalty is the chance that it could kill innocent prisoners who are here because of circumstantial evidence. However, the truth is very different. There are roughly 28 different procedures that have to performed before a death sentence is carried out. These 28 procedures are thorough and comprehensive and most of the times, they will identify an innocent prisoner. Therefore, the chance of killing an innocent person is highly improbable given these strict procedures.