The American Death Penalty Essay Sample

Capital Punishment is important for holding people accountable for their actions, it’s that simple. It needs to remain a punishment here in the US because a sentence of life in prison is disproportionate to the death penalty it doesn’t need to be carried out with brutality, and it eliminates the possibility of an escape and future victims. 

The death penalty in America has existed since the age of colonies. Various methods have been used to execute the accused throughout our history. Throughout time the process has been carried out by hanging, gas inhalation, burning, firing squad, electrocution, and lethal injection. 23 states have abolished the death penalty, 24 states still execute people and 3 states are in a “governor-imposed moratorium.” As we continue forward as a society we probably won’t have the death penalty anymore, it will be considered barbaric, cruel, and a thing of the past. I believe we should not abolish it, but instead figure out better ways to go about it. some methods are barbaric and cruel, but so are the people we execute.

The first reason why we should keep capital punishment is because a sentence of life in prison is disproportionate to the death penalty. For example, prisoners get used to prison like how students get used to school, its rough at first but eventually they make friends and adapt to the schedule. Additionally, prisoners can have contraband items such as phones, vapes, candy bars, fast food, and drugs smuggled into prison for them. This means that they can have access to the outside world or stave away boredom with drugs, good food or games. Some inmates have even recorded TikTok videos from their cells (Prisoners Are Going Viral on TikTok). What is the point of jail if the people that are supposed to be punished can enjoy themselves? Moreover, Only murderers with the exception of two violent child rapists were sitting on death row in 2008 (18 Advantages and Disadvantages of the Death Penalty). 

The second reason why we should keep capital punishment is because it doesn’t have to be carried out in brutality. The focus of the death penalty today is to end life as quickly and as peacefully as possible (18 Advantages and Disadvantages of the Death Penalty). For example, the common method of execution is lethal injection. It’s usually a mixture of a sedative, potassium chloride to stop the heart, and pancuronium bromide to cause muscle paralysis and respiratory arrest. Lethal injection works more than 90 percent of the time and only takes an estimated 7 minutes for the individual to die a painless death. Additionally, prisoners can choose between injection or sanctioned alternatives in six states — Alabama, California, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington. In California, the alternative is lethal gas and in Washington it’s hanging. In the rest, it’s electrocution(Map:How Each State Chooses its Death Row Inmates). Furthermore, prisoners are given a sedative before they die so they feel the least amount of pain possible.

The final reason why we should keep capital punishment is because the death penalty eliminates the possibility of an escape and future victims. Joaquin Guzman, better known as El Chapo has escaped from prison on multiple occasions. In 2001, Guzman bribed some guards and escaped through a dirty laundry cart. In 2014 he escaped through a tunnel dug by his associates into his cell and hid for days before being captured in Mazatlan. If someone can escape from a maximum security prison multiple times we are doing something wrong. Also, someone in life for prison literally has nothing to lose. Someone incarcerated for life could kill someone and suffer literally no consequences other then being put in isolation. Finally, There is almost nothing you can do to guarantee that someone won’t kill again in prison. Prison gangs utilize lifers by ordering them to carry out hits on rivals because of this.

What if the individual on death row didn’t commit the crime they were accused of? As of may 2021 the US has exonerated a total of 185 people that were on death row since 1974(Wikipedia). Prisoners get so much time to prove that they are innocent that they literally die waiting to be executed. The death penalty isn’t the problem here, the judicial system is. Even then the accused that get exonerated can actually be guilty and get released because of a mishap of a judge. There have been numerous cases of killers getting out of prison and killing again. Why would you risk putting a possible murderer or even mass murderer back into society to possibly harm another person or even you?

In conclusion, the death penalty needs to remain a possibility here in the US because a sentence of life in prison is disproportionate to the death penalty it doesn’t need to be carried out with brutality, and it eliminates the possibility of an escape and future victims. If we don’t keep capital punishment we could end up like New Zealand, who have released individuals found guilty of murder back onto the streets and having them take another person’s life on more than a dozen occasions.