There has always been a major debate when it comes to the death penalty. A frequently contested subject has been the legality of the death penalty. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, more than likely is something you would hear from someone in support of the death penalty. However, what lesson will one learn from the state taking another person’s life? If the punishment is sought after the crime to teach a lesson, what lesson do they learn after they have been put to death? No one should have the right to take anyone else’s life. The death penalty should be illegal throughout the United States of America.
Retribution is just another word for revenge - a synonym. Although our first instinct may be to inflict instant pain on someone who has wronged us, the principles of an established society should have a more dignified reaction. The emotional urge for revenge is not a necessary excuse for creating a system of capital punishment, with all its complications and risks. Our laws and criminal justice system should lead us to higher principles that demonstrate a complete respect for life, including the life of a murderer. Encouraging our motive for revenge, which ends in another killing, continues the chain of violence (Innocence, 2011). The belief of an eye for an eye, or a life for a life is a simple-minded one. There is no other crime that we punish with a similar action that the criminal committed. We do not torture the torturer or rape the rapist. Taking the life of a murderer is a similarly, unbalanced sentence (Innocence, 2001).
There have been and always will be cases of executions of innocent people. No matter how established the maybe justice system there will always be a risk of human failure. Unlike prison sentences, the death penalty is irreversible. More than 130 people have been freed from prisons throughout the United States, due to wrongful convictions (Melusky, 2011). A recent study by Columbia University Law School found that two-thirds...