Carla8

       Each year approximately thirty-five individuals, out of 250 on death row, are executed for various crimes committed.   The innocent are being murdered and the guilty are walking away without any form of punishment, but do we have the right to take someone's life because of a sin they have committed, even though we are guilty sinners as well? Capital punishment should be abolished. Death is an easy way out for some criminals. The wrongdoers should physically suffer for the crime they have committed. There is also the benefit of the doubt. Is there one out of the hundreds being executed that is innocent of a crime they have not committed? The religious standpoint is the most important. God has to judge every one of the sins they have committed, not us as humans. Death is a little word with a strong meaning that could scar someone's life or loved one's life forever. Who are we as a nation or state to take it upon our hands to kill someone of a crime they have committed? Why do we feel that we have the authority to determine when someone should be killed? Is executing someone of a crime they have committed any different from killing someone in the act of anger? Both of these situations are murdering a person, whether they are innocent or guilty.
       For many criminals death is an easy way out. Numerous people are suffering in jail for a short period of time, and then being executed for a crime they have committed. How are these people learning from their mistakes? They are not! Criminals should physically suffer for the crimes they have committed.   During the years that prisoners are sentenced to jail, they should have to work, eat, and sleep. In doing this these people would have to adopt a new form of life. They would realize the severe consequences that would be taken if the crime they had committed would be tried again. Killing someone for a crime they have committed is only exemplifying the same actions as the guilty one. What is this teaching our young people today? This is teaching them that killing someone is okay because our government uses the same actions. Convicted criminals should experience the harsh consequences in which they ultimately deserve, rather than death, which can not teach them anything.
      A person is innocent until proven guilty. In our government today, a person has to be proven guilty, beyond a shadow of a doubt, in order to be sentenced a consequence. Although the government tells the United States citizens this, there is always the benefit of the doubt. Multitudes of people are convicted of crimes and are later found innocent. These people have been excused of their crime and consequence, but can you excuse the deceased? A study was published in 1987 by the Stanford Law Review that found some evidence that stated at least 350 people in America, between 1900 and 1985, have been innocent of a crime for which they were convicted. Of the 350 people, 139 were sentenced to death, and as many as 23 were executed. Twenty-three innocent people had their lives taken. If that number had been so little as to one person killed for a crime they had not committed, then capital punishment should still be abolished. Taking the life of one innocent person contradicts the whole concept of capital punishment.
       God is the giver of life and should have the authority to take someone's life in His own time. Many people are being sentenced to death by the government, not by God's will and time of confirmation. By killing a person, the government is rejecting the last chance for God's salvation. Capital punishment eliminates the final opportunity a person has in choosing between an eternity in Heaven or Hell. Just like that one innocent person the government will execute, they are also executing a person's soul that could live forever in mansions with God or in fiery pits with Satan. In Exodus 20:13, God tells His people, "Thou shalt not kill." We are all faced with the judgement day that God has planned for each individual. Do we want to stand in His court and have to explain our reasoning in killing someone for the some crime they committed? He is the ultimate judge. When the government takes it into their own hands to kill someone for a crime they have committed, they are not only taking someone's life, but a sinner's soul that could have had the chance to repent and live eternity with the Almighty.
      Whether it be needing to suffer for one's actions, benefit of the doubt, or religious purposes, capital punishment is wrong. Everyday Americans are faced with news stories of another person having their life taken and we begin to grieve for their soul, family, and friends. Why is this not the case when someone is put in the electric chair or pricked with the needle and their life is also taken? Then we begin to grieve, not for their soul, but for the other party who lost a dear loved one. Why do we see a difference in the two situations? Everyone says, "Yeah, yeah, kill that murderer," but in his or her minds they are saying, "I'll sit back and watch or listen to your final words on the television." You tell me that you are for capital punishment, but find it hard to believe that you would jump for the next time to execute a criminal. Would you be willing to pull the plug for someone, knowing that this would be their easy way out? Would you be able to prick someone's skin with a needle, not knowing if the person was truly guilty of the crime in which they were convicted? Would you be able to administer the lethal gas to a person who had committed the same sin that in a few seconds you would have committed also? Where does the real crime lie in capital punishment?