hemurderous felons die as well? Capital Punishment is a major controversy. Debatingwhether they receive execution or spend the rest of their ruined lives rotting in a jail cellseems pointless.
The government throws away these human’s lives. We control the livesof these criminals and we should not waste them. We should use the thousands of them tobetter our society. Rather than capital punishment, the government should create workteams using death row criminals to better our communities. The death penalty has been debated since the beginning of humankind.
Today atotal of 94 countries and territories use the death penalty for ordinary crime, including theUnited States. In the other 57 countries in the world, the death penalty no longer exists. Insome of the 57 countries, capital punishment is only banned for ordinary crimes and stilleffective for military crimes or crimes committed in exceptional circumstances such aswartime (Doan, 2). Currently 34 of the states in the U.
S. exercise capital punishment. The most recent toabolish capital punishment was Massachusetts, in 1984, and New York, in 1995, was themost recent to reinstate it, according to the NAACP. During 1977 and 1994, Texasexecuted the highest number of prisoners, a total of 85. As of 1996 there were 3,122inmates on death row. These convicts could help with government labor with a hope thatthey might be free someday.
Figures show that, with men, 80% decide in favor of thedeath penalty, and women the vote was 74%. . White populations vote 81% for capitalpunishment and blacks only 53% (Doan, 2). This information means that the generalpublic will resolve to end the lives of these killers. By offering an alternative, thesefigures may alter themselves significantly. Those opposing the death penalty would obtain some level of satisfaction with awork program for death row inmates.
“More often than not, families of murder victims donot experience the relief they expected to feel at the execution, says Lula Redmond, aFlorida therapist. ” ( Brownlee 28). “The United States is the execution capital of theworld. Now isn’t that something to be proud of?” Katie Kondrat asks sarcastically in”The Death Penalty a Just Punishment?”. “A killer who is killed can not kill again, but akiller in jail until he dies also can’t kill. ” The well known argument against capitalpunishment remains as the morality issue.
Some say killing the murderer will not bringthe victim back to life. The U. S. needs a plan that will not execute but use the remaininglifetimes in a positive manner. The common argument for capital punishment is that it saves tax dollars, itdecreases prison overcrowding and provides equal justice.
With the proposed plan, thegovernment would save millions on not having to hire road crews and other manual labortask forces. The monies generated by the work provided should solve the prison crowdingissue by freeing up more funds to build and staff bigger prisons. “Without severepunishment the justice system says that a murderer’s life is more important than thevictim’s. ” says Connie Sun in contrasting part of “The Death Penalty a JustPunishment?”. A lifetime of service to the victim and his family may be viewed as equaljustice.
What the Bible has to say about capital punishment affects peoples view on it. The whole issue seems to stem from ideas of morality. “Men presume to claim things thatare God’s alone. They even want to decide over the life and death of people and nations,”says Eberhard Arnold.
“They forget that it is the Lord who kills and makes alive. ” (Bruderhof 2). The New Testament is based on forgiveness. “Father forgive them; for theyknow not what they do,” states Luke 23:34 of the New Testament. The Bible alsocontains the Ten Commandments, one of which states , “Thou shalt not kill”.
From aBiblical standpoint, capital punishment remains unacceptable to its followers. This is astrong argument for constructively using the life of one who has killed by not repeatingthe same act twice. It contains an element of forgiveness while still making the offenderconfess to the misery he has caused others. We should make use of the murderers on death row. Punishment should not comeas three minutes of minimal physical and mental pain as in execution.
These killersshould have to live with their guilt, and also do more than eat up money from thegovernment. The murderers would do such jobs as clear roadway paths and clean upgarbage. They would not be paid, they would be housed and fed in the jails, and work ina organized “chain gang. ” The usual prison guards will watch over the workers. Oneargument against this says that some criminals would commit suicide.
This argument isnot logical since the workers would die anyway, either by execution or deteriorating injail. The criminals might refuse to work because they possess a death sentence inexecution, or life in jail. As enticement, the felons will receive parole after a minimum of20 years of service and extensive rehabilitation depending on the severity of their crimes. Allowing parole will encourage hard work and commitment.
The process of training, organizing and disaplining these people will help the stategovernment to clean up roadways, dig sewer trenches, and make parks. The murdererswill work without pay and be kept in the prisons. The idea is beneficial to the people andthe budget because of the cheap manual labor. The government should apprentice deathrow criminals rather than have them executed. Whether a man should die now or die latershould not be the focus of the capital punishment debate.
Working the death rowprisoners to better communities and providing them with counseling, food, and shelter isa logical, and deserving alternative to capital punishment. Death row murderers owe theUnited States citzens whose lives they have altered so permanently. BibliographyBIBLIOGRAPHYBrownlee, Shannon, et al. “The place for Vengence.
” U. S. News ; World Report 16 June 1997: 24-32Bruderhof Foundation. “What Others Say About the Death Penalty. ” http://www.
bruderhof. org/issues/deathpen/thoughts/quotes. htm 1997Doan, Brian. ” Death Penalty Policy, Statistics, and Public Opinion. ” Focus Spring 1997: 2Kondrat, Katie. “Death Penalty a Just Punishment?” 8 March, 1996 http://www-scf.
edu/~mweaver/pa…5/iss6/editorial/faceoff.6.45.html
