Introduction:
The world can be a dark and cruel place to live in. Proof of this cruelty can be easily determined just by watching the news, or reading a newspaper of current events. It seems like every day a horrendous crime is committed: murder, kidnapping, and child molestation, just to name a few. These crimes are sufficient proof that there is enough evil in the world. The death penalty, capital punishment or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offence. Death penalty in the United States applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment existed in the colonies that predated the United States and that were later captured by the United States under the laws of their mother countries and continued to have effect in the states and territories that they became. The use of the death penalty is a debate filled with controversy.
Body:
Proponents of the death penalty say it is an important tool for preserving law and order, deters crime, and costs less than life imprisonment. They argue that retribution or "an eye for an eye" honors the victim, helps console grieving families, and ensures that the perpetrators of heinous crimes never have an opportunity to cause future tragedy. Opponents of capital punishment say it has no deterrent effect on crime, wrongly gives governments the power to take human life, and perpetuates social injustices by disproportionately targeting people of color (racist) and people who cannot afford good attorneys (classist). They say lifetime jail sentences are a more severe and less expensive punishment than death. The death penalty is punishment for committing a "capital offense", such as murder or treason, where the government having jurisdiction over the crime and the criminal puts the person convicted of the crime to death. The method used in most jurisdictions today is that of lethal injection, where a number of drugs are injected into the...