Argumentative Essay Death Penalty

October 17, 2011

Death Penalty

When a person is sentenced to death by electrocution he strapped to a chair and electrodes are attached to his head and leg. The amount of voltage is raised and lowered a few times and death is supposed to occur within three minutes. Three whole minutes with electricity flowing through someone's body, while his flesh burns. Three minutes may not seem like a very long time, but to someone who is waiting for his body to die, three minutes can feel like an eternity. Is this not cruel and unusual punishment? “The eighth amendment which prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that this amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause applies to the states. The phrases employed originated in the English Bill of Rights of 1689” Wikipedia revised October 6, 2011. So yes this is cruel and unusual punishment.

Should the death penalty be illegal? In the article” death penalty pro’s and con’s” by Joe Messerli he lists the pro’s and con’s of the death penalty and demonstrates how the death penalty should be banished written July 7,2011. I do not support having the death penalty because it violates religious beliefs. Many religions, such as my own, Christianity, follow the rules that God sent to use through the Ten Commandments. One of the most important of those ten rules states, “Thou shall not kill.” If you are executing an individual, that clearly violates this commandment. Murdering any person, no matter what the individual has been convicted of, is a mortal sin. Therefore, God will punish anyone who aids in executing people. I believe that religious beliefs, such as the Ten Commandments, are the corner stone for our law system. Executing someone should not be made an exception to God’s rule and left to man’s hand. When are we going to stop playing God and realize that we cannot judge? Man will always have error when deciding another’s...