Death_Penalty

Death Penalty The Death Penalty Introduction: The death penalty is a hot topic on many people’s minds these days. From John Lee Malvo to innocent citizens on death row, everybody seems to have an opinion on this touchy subject. Having just returned from a semester studying abroad in Spain, my conversations with people from other cultures has altered my view on this controversial issue. Before these conversations, I would not consider myself an advocate of the death penalty, but I was definitely not against it. In fact, when confronted (unconfrontationally) by foreigners, I would support the federal death penalty, arguing that our streets were safer with these murderers and rapists getting what they deserved. I would argue that children and elderly women were being taken advantage of by these coward criminals and I would point to the instances when a paroled convict would be let free only to commit these inhumane crimes again. But when all was said and done, these people convinced me that maybe our legal system wasn’t as fool proof as I had thought. Within this paper, I hope to show some of the factors that influenced my change of opinion. Background: death, penalty, people, problem, federal, believe, one, innocent, social, opinion, number, executions, world, support, should, punishment, percent, murder, innocence, found, under, society’s, seems, row, man, life, legal, judge, feel, fact, executed, even, definition, criminal, crimes