Should The Death Penalty Be Legalized In All 50 Of The United States?

Capital punishment results in death by execution. Capital punishment is legalized in 31 states and abolished in 19 states (Death Penalty Information Center). I believe the death penalty should be legal in all 50 of the United States, especially when an individual commits first degree murder. First degree murder is defined as: in order for someone to be found guilty of first degree murder the government must prove that the person killed another person; the person killed the other person with malice aforethought; and the killing was premeditated. To kill with malice aforethought means to kill either deliberately and intentionally or recklessly with extreme disregard for human life (lectlaw.com). There are many reasons as to why I believe the

“Unless that balance is restored, society succumbs to a rule of violence. Only the taking of the murderer’s life restores the balance and allows society to show convincingly that murder is an intolerable crime which will be punished in kind.” (“Retribution (In Support of the Death Penalty)”). Without punishing the person who committed murder, the citizens are more likely to take the matter into their own hands. They will give the murderer a punishment they think he deserves. In order to keep violence down in the area, anyone who commits murder should be given the death penalty as a punishment. The murderer does not deserve to live since they killed the victim. “Deserved punishment protects society morally by restoring this just order, making the wrongdoer pay a price equivalent to the harm he has done” (Budziszewski). When someone commits a crime it not only disturbs society’s order, but it takes lives away that we as a society cannot get back. There is no longer the peace we had before after a life is taken for an unjustified reason. With that being said with the death penalty being legal we can use capital punishment in order to restore society. We can hope to give a semi normal life to the family before the

This has not happened since the death penalty was reintroduced in 1976. Steven D. Stewart refutes this argument: “…No system of justice can produce results which are 100% certain all the time. Mistakes will be made in any system which relies upon human testimony for proof. We should be vigilant to uncover and avoid such mistakes.” Even though our justice system is in demand of a higher standard for death penalty cases, risks of making a mistake is slim to none. Also, there is no evidence to show the court executed anyone that has been innocent since the death penalty was reactivated. Just because there may be a small chance for mistakes does not mean we should eliminate the death penalty. Just like we should not make automobiles illegal because of fatal