Death Penalty

Death Penalty

Aerial Burns

COM/170

8/7/10

Tiffany Griffin-Minor

Death Penalty

Should the death penalty be mandatory for people who kill other people? Yes. In the past, this writer considered the death penalty to be cruel. However, this opinion changed after the murder of an aunt and a cousin.They were brutally murdered by two men who they barely knew. As a result of this experience, this writer’s view of the death penalty has changed.

The death penalty is the act of killing a person via a judicial proceeding for retribution of a heinous crime committed, such as aggravated murder, felony killing or contract killing. (Johnson, 2000-2009,2010). In 2006, life changed dramatically. A phone call was made saying my aunt and cousin had been found brutally murdered in their home. This was devasting for the whole family because we had never delt with anything like this before. Death penalty pros and cons is a topic that has been chewed on for ages. While some say the death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights, which in the name of justice is actually premeditated and cold-blooded killing of humans. (Johnson, 2000-2009,2010). Others say that certain people earn this ultimate punishment by commiting horrendous crimes. According to them, society has the right to act in self defense to protect the rights of those killed. (Johnson, 2000-2009,2010). For my family, the need to protect them was obvious. They were the victims and had no way to protect themselves.

The two men who murdered my family members are in solitary confinment for the rest of their lives, but they should be on death row. They should have to wait and wonder everyday when there are going to die. They took two precious lives that can’t be brought back. Since life is so precious, the punishment for taking somebody’s life is paying the price with your own life. Thus, death penalty is nothing but just punishment for those who have taken another individual or individual’s lives....