Editor’s Note: This is an essay written as part of a college assignment.  It is posted on our blog to inspire discussion and share this perspective.

Authored by Ann Walls

Yes, I am in favor of the death penalty and believe that every state should act upon it. The death penalty was something that people came up with to punish people for doing something that was unethical and against the law.

Now, all we do is place these same criminals in a jail cell where we, the innocent, the victims, are paying for them to have better accommodations than those working to support a family. We have veterans that are homeless and trying to look for work and barely making it day by day. Whereas, the criminals that we have placed in jail for murder, rape, or abuse sit inside a sheltered area with a bed, pillow, sheets, food for every meal, and television. This is appalling to me and I think that our society is so corrupt that we think that this is okay.

The way I see it, people believe that as long as the criminal is off the street they are doing no harm and I beg to differ on that. They are still taking our money which helps pay for their food, water, electricity, shelter, health care and cable bill. Why is that money not going towards something useful such as helping those families who are barely making it by in this economy and need help paying for their food or rent to keep a roof over their children’s heads? This is what should be important to our society, but no, we are more concerned with the criminals “rights” that in my opinion they lost when they decided to kill, steal, or commit any other crime. If the criminal wanted to have their rights respected then they should not have committed a crime.

Those criminals who are sitting in jail with a sentence of life in prison without a chance of parole should receive the death penalty no matter what. If every person who was in jail right now with that sentence received the death penalty tomorrow, that is a lot of mouths we no longer have to pay to feed and maybe that food can go towards someone who deserves to eat. I do not feel that people deserve to die because of each of their actions, but I do feel that you need to be punished adequately for them. If a prisoner is sitting in jail basically waiting to die in there with absolutely no chance is getting out, then why are we paying for their stay when we could save that money?

My opinion may be harsh, but I stand behind it all the way. I know I look at the death penalty different than others do simply because I feel they do not have the option of death penalty or life in prison if that is their sentence. I do not believe that they should be able to get a prison sentence if they are there for murder (circumstances differ in each case – accidental vehicular manslaughter I do not think needs to receive the death penalty). With this said, I think many people would be much happier knowing that the ones who hurt their loved ones or friends will pay for what they have done.

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