The Death Penalty

            When I was younger and everything seemed so clear cut, I believed in the death penalty. To me there had been four types of people; “really good people”, “good people”, “bad people”, and “really bad people”. I felt that really bad people, people who took the lives of others, deserved to die. However, as I got older and learned more I realized that things weren’t so black and white and that most things were various shades of grey. For example I learned that not all bad people went to prison, and not all people in prison were bad; and people who did good things weren’t necessarily good, and good people didn’t always do good things.

            I soon found that I had mixed feelings about the death penalty. On one hand, I believed in it because there are people who are too dangerous to be in this world; people who derive pleasure from killing others. These people cause so much suffering. The loved ones of these victims normally suffer for the rest of their lives. So why should people who inflict so much pain be allowed to live? On the other hand, killing these murders won’t bring the people that they have killed back. There is a difference between vengeance and punishment; and two wrongs don’t make a right.

            After debating on this matter with my teacher, I seemed to lean more towards the outlawing the death penalty side. He brought up some magnificent points. One was that the American government was created to protect, not harm the citizens of America. The penal system was created to correct behaviors; killing the person doesn’t exactly correct their behavior. The other point was the cost of keeping inmates on death row. Many inmates are there for years before they are finally “put down.” There is also the cost of all the appeal made in this time period. These trials cost lots of money, money that could be spent on other things, like education. He then told me to read Nicholas Kristof’s article Framed for Murder?

            After reading Kristof’s article my view shifted all the way to outlawing the death penalty. The article tells about Kevin Cooper, an African American ex-convict, who is now being tried for the death penalty for murdering a white family. All the evidence points that he didn’t do it, yet he is still being tried for it. Bill Clintons’ White house counsel, Lanny Davis said, “My simple theory: heinous brutal murder of a white family and a black convict. Simple as that.” Unfortunately, for many it is as simple as that. Juries have been proven to time and time again to be more likely to convict a person of color than a white person.

            Kristof is right, “No system is fail-safe.” Unfortunately, killing an innocent with the death penalty isn’t exactly a “whoops, my bad” mistake. It is something that never can be undone. For the reason that the system is not fail-safe, the death penalty should be outlawed.