I am for the death penalty. The death penalty should serve as a necessary use of punishment for convicts in the U.S. The death penalty has been used since Biblical times, and now only China, Japan, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the U.S. continue to use the death penalty. In the U.S. the death penalty was discontinued in 1972 and reinstated in 1976, though people are still having a constant battle over whether to keep the practice or ban it. In the U.S., 30,000 people have been legally executed since colonial times. From 1931 up, 150 people are executed yearly.

Capital punishment usually sends the wrong message. Why kill people that kill to show that killing is wrong? Many people don’t realize that the state is actually using a murder to punish somebody that committed a murder. It seems that our country should be less vengeful. Why do you think gang wars never seem to end?  A lot of people are saying that racial bias is affecting capital punishment. However, immigrants usually don’t have a lot of money, so they choose a life of crime as an equivalent. In 2001, 74% of people executed were minorities or poor.

Criminals usually only confess to one of their many crimes, because nobody wants to get in more trouble than they already are. But it seems, maybe, death would be exactly what the murderer wants. One in four prison inmates commit suicide. If he dies, the suffering ends immediately; Whereas if you put him in prison, he will have to suffer forever in a place of rape, murder, constant fights, and where they’re treated like animals. Some family members of crime victims may take years or decades to recover from the shock and loss of a loved one. The criminal’s family members also suffers abusive trauma from which they have to recover. Some may never recover. One of the things that helps hasten this recovery is to achieve some kind of closure. Life in prison just means the criminal is still around to haunt the victim. A death sentence brings an end to a horrible chapter in the lives of these family members.

Personally, I think that the biggest reason to keep the death penalty is to prevent the crime from happening again. The parole system now is a joke. Does it make sense to anyone outside the legal system to have multiple “life” sentences + 20 years or other things? Even if a criminal is sentenced to life without possibility of parole, he still has a chance to kill while in prison, or even worse, escape and go on a crime or murder spree. What’s to stop him from killing anyone who might try to bring him in or stop his crime spree? What will the government do? Extend his sentence? Sure, they can take away some prison privileges, but is this enough of to stop the killing? The death penalty should be kept for countless reasons. Here’s an example: In 1965, Robert Massie murdered Mildred Weiss, mother of two, in San Gabriel, CA., during a follow-home robbery. Hours before execution, a stay was issued so Massie could testify against his accomplice. Massie’s sentence was commuted to life when the Supreme Court halted executions in 1972. Receiving an undeserved second chance, Massie was paroled, but eight months later robbed and murdered businessman Boris Naumoff in San Francisco.

The attention given to the execution of 1,000 murderers is repugnant, especially when the loudest voices think the death of a convicted murderer is a tragedy. Yet the deaths and suffering of countless victims is only an easily-ignored statistic. We must think about the lives that all 1,895 murdered victims affected. Every one had families, friends, relatives, co-workers, neighbors. The combined loss is incalculable. We must think about the lives that all 1,895 murdered victims, not the criminals. Every one had families, friends, relatives, co-workers, neighbors. The combined loss is incalculable. I think the death penalty is necessary in the penal system, as it can save many lives and help victims and should be used because 70% of rehabilitated prisoners repeat their crimes.