Capital Punishment

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate April 2001

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It seems like every time I open a newspaper a person murders someone and is sent to prison only to get out in a few years. The average sentence for murder is 22.7 years, but this doesn't mean the murderer will serve this full sentence. There is always the chance of early release or early parole for convicted murderers. The average maximum time served was 9 years and 2 months - 44 percent of the actual sentence. This happens way too much, which is exactly my point. Every day in the United States, convicted criminals are released back into society long before their sentence is ever served. The whole justice system is a joke these days. Nobody is afraid of it anymore. People are able to commit serious crimes and there's a possibility that he or she will get out in a few years. There is one solution that might lower crime rates, stricter capital punishment laws.

The Death Penalty is not taken very seriously these days. For example, in Houston, Texas, Leo Jenkins shot and killed Mark Kelley and his sister Kara Kelley Voss during a robbery. Jenkins was on parole after serving just five years of a nine-year sentence for burglary. This is why Washington needs to make it a little stricter, from preventing situations like this from happening. People who commit crimes are returned back into the community just to commit even more crimes and may take innocent lives as well. I know this is not true in all cases, but it does happen. When a person is released from prison and commits another crime it shows they have no fear of the law. Some criminals have a long list of crimes they have committed in these cases it shows that the justice system is not working.