In my opinion capital punishment should be abolished in the United States and in the Middle East. If someone is dangerous to society then they can have a life sentence rather than being killed. And if that’s not enough, the criminal can be put into solitary confinement. I also don’t think it is right to take a loved one away from a family.
I understand losing a loved one is hard. I lost my 20 year old brother and that was an extremely difficult time. My brother has had a tough life since he was a child and he made many mistakes and broke the law. I would never want him to lose his life for making a mistake. It was hard enough seeing him in handcuffs at court and then visiting him at Juvenile Hall, I cannot imagine seeing him being executed. I am sharing my story not to get sympathy but to show that I have empathy for families who lost family members to the death penalty. I don’t want them to feel the pain and sorrow I felt after losing my brother.
This may be getting dark– But I even told my parents if I were to be murdered I wouldn’t want my killer to get the death penalty. And I have thought if one of my loved ones was murdered, I wouldn’t want the criminal’s family to go through what I would go through. I would be mad and hurt for what he or she has done but I don’t want them to die. If the killer was executed because I wanted “revenge” then their blood would be on my hands and I would be a murderer.
I disagree with proponents who say capital punishment will deter crime. There are many studies that show executing criminals doesn’t deter crime. For example, a survey was given to expert criminologists, and asked if they believe
executions lower crime rates. 88% said executions don’t lower crime rates, while only 5% said they do lower crime rates.
Also, in this graph (to the right), we can clearly see that murder rates are higher in death penalty states than non-death penalty states.
Overall, the main reason why I don’t support the death penalty is becasue I don’t believe we can fix our society by killing other citzens. Here is a quote that resonates with me: 