The Death Penalty Debate
Yvette Dawson
English 122
Victoria Schmidt
May 23, 2008
Introduction
The death penalty has been a punishment for capitol crimes since as far back as the Fifth Century. “Fifth Century B.C.'s Roman Law of the Twelve Tablets. Death sentences were carried out by such means as crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement. “ () The Death penalty has evolved since then, and different countries have different laws governing it. Here in the United States, it differs from state to state whether they use the death penalty or not. The states that do utilize the Death penalty even could differ in the way the sentence is carried out. Some states utilize lethal injections, others the electric chair, or the gas chamber. There are many different takes on if the death penalty is considered to be fair punishment or cruel and unusual. This has been debated for decades, and has even made it into the highest level of the judicial system, the Supreme Court. Crime today is rampid and brutal, the Death Penalty is a necessary punishment for the low lives that take from the law abiding citizens.
Some opposes of the death penalty rely on religion to state why they cannot support the death penalty. In all actuality if the criminals that were committing the heinous acts had any religious beliefs the crime should not have been committed. If religion is their only opposition they need to remember that they are not the ones sentencing that criminal to death, it is a jury of their peers that decides their fate. Other individivuals say the death penalty is only used based on race. History will show that all races are being executed.
Crime is on the rise today. Take for example my home town of Houston Texas the last published crime reports were from 2006. The city had 38,397 violent crimes not including rape or murder. The city had 519 murders. The project number for 2007 was to rise. How would you feel if one of the...