Last_Meals_Are_Not_Happy_Meals

English 3C 31 May 2012 Last Meals are not Happy Meals “Dead man walking,” these words indicate that harm is coming. People believe that killing is wrong, but why does that attitude die when it comes to the death penalty' The death penalty deprives humans of their own personal rights. I believe that capital punishment is appalling. I think this because it is expensive, there is a risk of wrongly convicted people being executed and it is hypocritical to murder someone in the name of the law. It costs up to four times more to execute a person than to keep him or her in prison for life. Some state governments estimate that one lethal injection ranges from $1 million - $3 million, and could even rise to $7 million per case due to free counsel for defense, appeals and maximum security in a separate death row wing. On the contrary, a life in imprisonment only costs $500,000, including the cost of incarceration. There have been many cases where innocent people are sentenced to death; sources indicate that approximately 23 innocent people have been executed so far. It is unfair for the innocent people to be executed for something they did not do. Additionally, it is unfair for a wrongful conviction to steal an innocent individual away from their family and friends. If the Courts of Justice were to misjudge a person and claim them to be guilty, they cannot undo their mistake once that person is killed. It would also be considered murder if the jury kills an innocent person. So knowing that, does that mean the jury should be killed' It is nonsense to have everyone just killing each other, and the issue would not be solved; only more killing would get involved. A well-known French revolutionist, Francois Robespierre, said, “Human judgments are never so certain as to permit society to kill a human being judged by other human beings….Why deprive ourselves of any chance to redeem such errors'” It is not fair for humans to have the power to decide whether or not an individual should be murdered. Usually, the Courts of Justice make errors, but we can’t allow innocent people to be sentenced to death by accident. All authoritative individuals should also take killing more seriously as it is morally wrong. The Courts of Justice cannot make such mistakes because if they do, then they are no different from people in society who commit murder. If the court can be excused for their wrongful convictions, the people should be given the same chance as well. Capital punishment is an evil deed because it is an inhumane punishment. It is cruel to punish the inmates with death because it tortures them. No person should have the power to judge and sentence another person to death. The fear of waiting to be executed is combined with several years of waiting for your own demise. During this waiting period, death row inmates are kept in single cells where they stay for an average of twenty-three hours of each day. All they can do is forcefully enjoy their own company as they do not possess the option to interact with other people. We need to be considerate of their suffering. If we were to put ourselves in that same situation of a convicted individual, we would disagree about being executed because we are more empathetic towards our own mistakes; why don’t we let that attitude apply to other human beings as well' Being killed does not help us learn our lesson; it just ends our lives before we have the chance to learn from our errors. All the death penalty does is just increase the killing rates when it is morally wrong to kill in the first place. There are many difficult issues to deal with before being executed such as waiting, having to say goodbye to their family and knowing that they will soon be put to death. The most horrifying part is that they are constantly reminded of what will be done to them. Before execution, the prisoner is forced to be physically prepared. It is an evil act to have any human being put into that circumstance. No human should be treated that unfairly; we should try to punish them in other ways. After all, life in prison is worse than death anyway. If death row was to continue, this corrupt nature would continue to spread throughout society. We are supposed to end tortuous behavior and cruel actions, but the death penalty is just creating more of it. After examining various aspects of all the factors above, it seems clear that the death penalty can be considered as racially biased and morally wrong. Every human was taught that killing another living person is wrong, yet we live in a world where the government can hypocritically end a living human being life.