Pro & Con: Capital Punishment | Teen Ink

Pro & Con: Capital Punishment MAG

By Anonymous

   I would like to say a few words to everyone out there about a subject that has troubled me for a long time. That subject is capital punishment, or rather, the lack of its use.

In our society, it is all too possible for someone to go on a killing spree, slaughter ten innocent people, and get a fifteen-year sentence, with time off for good behavior, and parole in seven years. That is wrong. If you kill someone and are convicted in a trial by a jury of your peers, you should die.

Or consider this. If you are convicted of a crime, and sentenced to death, you'll spend ridiculous amounts of time on Death Row, awaiting your turn to ride the lightning. It is also possible to make appeal after appeal, prolonging your life while the corpse of your victim rots. Perhaps the most famous example is Ted Bundy who spent years on Death Row narrowly escaping his execution by offering to reveal more details of his crimes.

Capital punishment should be used more frequently. Opponents say it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. However, the Supreme Court has decided otherwise. And the only cruel and unusual part of capital punishment is the wait between sentencing and execution.

One final point. Let's remember that if the penalty for a crime is certain death, who is going to commit that crime? ?



Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 4 comments.


on Sep. 13 2011 at 4:59 pm
Xella714 BRONZE, Salem, Massachusetts
3 articles 1 photo 18 comments
This article was disgusting. Despite its title "Pros and Cons," it was horribly biased, and filled with misinformation. Even somebody that has made an awful descision can be reformed. A government that murders its citizens is barbaric

amshea said...
on Mar. 28 2011 at 2:20 pm
I am difinitely on the fence, when it comes to capital punishment. On one side, I think that, yes, if a person kills, or commits some other heinous crime, they should be cruely punished. But then again, how cruel is the death penalty, really? Looking at it another way, it just seems like an easy way out, to me; I think I'd rather know that someone, like your example, Ted Bundy, would just waste away in prison their whole life.

Saika PLATINUM said...
on Jan. 21 2011 at 3:29 pm
Saika PLATINUM, Durango, Colorado
21 articles 48 photos 34 comments

Favorite Quote:
Love and Tolerate every person, pony, and brony <3

However! think, does every person deserve to die if they kill somebody? i totally agree with you dont get me wrong, but your last point has a single fault. Even if people know that they will die if they kill somebody, they will still do that. Serial killers, serial rapists dont care, at all. these people really are messed up in the head if they even THINK of raping or killing people, they know or dont know. THAT is the fault in your argument. people just dont care. they wouldnt give a rats a** if they died or not. so ponder that thought and maybe edit this article.

tbarnes said...
on Nov. 9 2009 at 11:58 am
i agree...my uncle got killed un a car wreck do to drunk driving...the driver is in jail but not for what he did to my uncle...