death penalty

death penalty

  • Submitted By: DejaKyle
  • Date Submitted: 06/05/2014 3:34 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 527
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 1



Death Penalty

The death penalty is one of the most controversial topics in the United States. A lot of people agree with it and others feel as if it’s inhumane. As of April 1,2008 only 37 states since 1976 had authorized the death penalty and amongst those states there were 1,099 deaths(deathpeanlty.org). Does killing a murderer make it better? What about teens that commit murder? Does two wrongs make a right? I think teens that commit murder shouldn’t receive the death penalty because teenagers make irrational decisions, nobody should have the right to take another persons life, and it goes against the Ten Commandments.
In October 2004 the U.S Supreme Court heard the case of Roper Vs. Simmons. Christopher Simmons was a 17-year-old boy that was sentenced to the death penalty for murdering Shirley Crook. He tied her with electric cable, duct tape, leather straps and threw her off the bridge. Simmons confessed and the jury found him guilty and recommended the death penalty, which the court imposed. Simmons had a troubled upbringing, which caused sudden impulsiveness. He appealed the verdict and the Supreme Court of Missouri concluded that his punishment violated the 8th amendment.
I think that giving teens the death penalty isn’t fair because studies have proven that teens make irrational decisions. Psychiatrists have done brain research that shows that the frontal lobe, the part of the brain that controls frontal lobe, develops last (deathpenalty.org). That goes to show that mentally it isn’t fair to give someone that type of punishment when they can’t even reason right. Yes, teens should know right from wrong but mentally, they just can’t control it. "Kids may know the difference between right and wrong, but that does not stop them from doing dumb and dangerous things that they would never think of doing as adults," said David Fassler, a child psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at the University of Vermont (deathpeanlty.org). It should really...

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