The Death Penalty
                                    chris watson

    Thousands of innocent people die every year.  Thousands of criminals walk the
streets living their lives in and out of prison, costing tax payers money, and they put fear
into the minds of Americans.  Some people believe death is the only fit punishment for
some crimes, others believe it is completely immoral.  The fact is, the death penalty is
simply impractical.
    Many people believe that there is only one way for a murder victim’s family to
come to a resolution.  This is by the death of the murderer.  Death row is the only way to
take the unbearable pain off the family’s shoulders, it is the only way for justice to be
served.  It makes this planet safer one murderer at a time, and takes one more hanious
criminal out of an overcrowded prison.  People are less likely to murder if they know
they can be put to death for their actions.  Death is a necessary punishment for justice in
America.
    Death row is more of a way to gain revenge against the murderer than to help
anyone.  Being in prison for life is worse than being killed in many ways.  Waking up
everyday thinking, wondering with nothing to look forward to.  Only knowing the
consequences.  The cost of executing a criminal is $2.6 million, six times the amount it
costs to put him behind bars for the rest of his life with no parole.  The money could be
spent on more prisons to help overcrowding prisons, or put more police officers on the
street which has worked in New York who has one of the lowest murder rates out of the
states.
    In reality, the death penalty has never proven to decrease murders.  In fact, there
are more murders around the time of executions than any other time.  Texas is a leader
when it comes to executions, yet it has one of the highest murder rates in the county.
Because of the cost of the executions in Texas, prisoners only serve about 20% of their
sentence.  Counties have actually gone into debt trying to use the death penalty as a
solution to murders.  In 1991, New Jersey sacrificed 500 police officers by laying them
off and used that money to starting their own death row.
    Death row never helps.  It causes tax increases because of the expensive price.  It
also takes police officers off of the streets which increases crime.  Instead of spending
money on executions, the money should be spent on more prisons and more police
officers which will decrease the number of murders.

                                                                                                                        Chris Studios 1999