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Capital punishment is a poor alternative to jail
To the editor, I am writing you so I can express my views on the topic of capital punishment. With these expressions I hope to enlighten the public. To take the life and soul of another human being is wrong. As society's tool of death, capital punishment continues to take the lives of many criminals. Thus, society proceeds in a path of self-destruction. Capital punishment is absolutely immoral and has no positive or deterring affect on our society. Capital punishment is the epitome of the word "hypocrite." The public feels that because someone is a murderer that is a justification to end his life. Our legal system should not promote death, it should provide an alternative way of setting a positive example. What gives someone the right to determine the fate of another? Man was placed on earth to manifest the glory of God that is within us. Man is an ally of God in trying to pursue life and happiness, however the death penalty has become humanity's nemesis. With all of the propaganda that has been spoon-fed to society about capital punishment, we have gotten a false understanding of its true reality. The American public has gotten the idea that everyone who has been put to death is a vicious, cold-hearted killer. But you have to account for the crimes that are committed in the heat of the moment. This is when emotions take complete control of a person and parts them from reality. You also have to consider people that are mentally ill who do not have a true understanding of reality. They may commit murder because they don't understand the basis behind death or can't comprehend the repercussions. You have to ask yourself, does this person deserve to have his or her life terminated based on these circumstances? Along with the destruction of many lives comes the waste of millions of dollars each year because of capital punishment. It costs more to kill a human than it does to sustain his life. A study by the New York State Defenders Association showed the cost of a capital trial is more than double the cost of life imprisonment. The cost of each execution is approximately $3.2 million, or about six times the cost of a life imprisonment sentence. The reason it costs so much to sentence a person to death is because of the money spent on the prisoner waiting in jail until his death, which could be up to 20 years. You also have to consider all of the legal costs and court fees. Capital punishment seems to have no deterring effect at all. For the 15-year period in which California carried out an execution every other month (1952-1967), murder rates increased 10 percent annually, on average. Between 1961 and 1991, when there were no executions in California, the murder rate increased only 4.8 percent annually. You have to consider the United States is the only Western nation that still allows the death penalty, and we also have one of the highest crime rates. During the 1980s, states that had the death penalty had an average rate of 7.5 criminal homicides per 1000,000, while abolition states averaged a rate of 7.4 per 100,000. This means murder was more common in states that use the death penalty. One of the major arguments for capital punishment is that people feel that if these criminals are not put to death they will get out of jail and kill again. However, this assumption is based solely on a myth. With the elimination of capital punishment, these criminals should be sentenced to life in prison, without parole. There is no way these criminals will be placed back on the streets. While maintaining a criminal's life, this allows him to suffer torments for the rest of his life. One of the biggest problems with capital punishment is making the mistake of putting an innocent person to death. With the elimination of capital punishment we will save many innocent lives and salvage what is left of today's society's dignity. When we execute an innocent person this allows the real killer to victimize somebody else. Why have we given the legal system the right to gamble with someone's life? With all of the time spent, energy wasted and deterioration of our morals, humanity has continued on the same path of destruction for thousands of years. I find it amazing that we have remained in this state of being and have not evolved into a more rational and human state, but our sophistication for killing has evolved exponentially. Why not direct our energies and resource to developing a way to eliminate capital punishment and finding a way to prevent crimes in the first place?
Wes McAndrew
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