Death Penalty: an Act of Injustice

Yeimi Suarez
Professor Stutzman
English 112-07
Paper 1- Final Draft
11 October 2010
Death Penalty: An Act of Injustice
Should the death penalty be enforced even if the convicted has shown that he has rehabilitated himself? The death penalty in the United States is designed for those who have committed the worse of crimes. The death penalty is not the right way to make justice because it has many flaws some of which include innocent people being executed, and it also uses less tax payers’ money to keep an inmate in prison for life. The Americans that are advocates for execution include but is not limited to victim’s families, those who believe in justice, and those that believe that tax payers money should not be used to maintain the rest of the inmate ‘s life in prison.
Webster ‘s Dictionary defines the word justice as “judgment involved in the determination of rights and the assignment of rewards and punishments,” for others who support the death penalty justice means to execute those inmates who killed innocent people. According to the author Nancy Jacobs, in her essay “Capital Punishment, Cruel and Unusual” states “There is debate over the morals and effectiveness of such a harsh sentence.”  Most commonly, the death penalty is challenged as a violation of the Eighth Amendment, which says that the U.S. cannot use "cruel and unusual" punishment,” this means that the death penalty law somehow contradicts the Eighth Amendment which is against any brutal punishments against a person. Justice should be fair and reasonable, and it should obey the Eighth Amendment which is used to regulate all law in the United States. Moreover justices for families of the victims have a hard time recognizing that the death penalty is not the way to make justice. Richard Halperin founder of the Fight the Death Penalty in USA website answers regular questions asked by people who support the death penalty, for instance this one “Why don’t you care about the victim’s and their...