Some Thoughts on The Death Penalty

In my opinion, the death penalty is appropriate in some cases. The arguments against the death penalty that I hear most often are as follows:

1) "Two wrongs don't make a right."
2) "The death penalty is not a deterrent."
3) "Our judicial system is racist and discriminates against the poor."

These all seem to be valid claims; however, they don't convince me for a few simple reasons. One, I don't view the death penalty as a "punishment," (as is indicated by the first argument listed) per se, nor as a "deterrent" to other potential murderers. Instead I view it as the only way to permanently and surely protect society from an uncontrollable individual's harmful actions. Life imprisonment is not a great alternative; prisoners do escape. Yes, they are usually recaptured quickly; but not always, as was exemplified by the case of the "Texas Seven."

As for the argument that our judicial system is racist and discriminatory, that may well be true. I'll admit that I don't know the statistics well enough to take a postition on the subject. However, the fact that a system is flawed is no reason to scrap it altogether; such a flaw, instead, merely calls for reform of the system. I personally believe that the execution (pun intended) of the death penalty in this country needs reform on other levels, as well. For instance, there is no reason for a method of death that costs so much money; bullets are cheaper and quicker (and more humane, some would say) than, for instance, the electric chair. I also believe that the penalty should not be carried out unless there is definite proof of a person's guilt; dna, or a confession for instance (this may seem rather obvious to most people, but there have been those on death row who have later been discovered to be innocent after dna testing, etc).

My thoughts on the death penalty then, in a nutshell, are as follows: fix it, don't trash it.

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