This essay is an opinion essay about the death penalty
Death Penalty
The death penalty is the most severe sentence in our legal system. This requires a law official to kill an offender. In many countries the death penalty doesn't exists, but in the United States many states allow the death penalty. Today, there is a big controversy over capital punishment and whether it is morally right. We greatly value our own lives so should the lives of others belong in our hands? Do we possess the right of deciding whether someone lives or dies? Our constitution protects us from "cruel and unusual punishment" so shouldn't that protect a person from being executed.
The death penalty has been around for over 5000 years. Over those 5000 years the death penalty has evolved greatly. For hundreds of years capital punishment was carried out in a public manner. A person would be executed in front of hundreds if not thousands of people. Executing someone publicly was thought to be more humiliating for the victim of the execution. The form of execution also has changed throughout time. During the 18th Century in England people would be executed in various forms including: beheading, drowning, blind-folded shooting, or various types of torture. No one questioned the death penalty during the 18th century for fear that they would be executed. But, in today's world capital punishment is heavily argued over. Now no matter what a person's execution is for it is questioned.
I personally find executions very disturbing. This seems like something that would happen in the 18th century with uncivil people. Why is this still taking place in our society? Are we not civil? While Executions take place behind prison walls, pro capital punishment groups outside of the prison with signs and cheers. People actually stand
outside cheering on the stop of someone's heart beat.
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