The issue of death sentence, also referred to as capital sentence has been a contentious issue more so in relation to human rights in the world. This is because some nations have upheld the practice while others think it goes against human rights. Crime level is significantly high in the United States of America. To make the matters worse these crimes range from petty crimes to capital crimes like; murders, robbery with violence, terrorism, rape, drugs trafficking and abuse among others (Watkins, 2011). The United States of America judicial system has found itself at crossroads on how to approach these capital crimes, when passing a sentence. This is because sometimes a suspected murderer may be released from prison out of lack of enough evidence only for them to go and kill again. When this happens, who is at fault? Is it the prosecution for having provided floppy evidence or is it the jury that set the murderer free? It also begs the question whether there would be fewer capital offenses in our country if death penalty is imposed (Watkins, 2011). In my opinion, I believe that if a capital crime offender knew that what awaits him is a death penalty if he ever got caught, he/she would think twice about committing the crime. Therefore, looking at this issue keenly, I believe that capital punishment should not be abolished in the United States of America.

Capital punishment may or may not totally deter other criminals from committing capital crimes. However, with every execution, the society is guaranteed of one less murderer, rapist or a terrorist in the streets. The topic of capital punishment has drawn a lot of controversies with its advocates arguing that it helps deterring crime in the society, while its critics argue that it does not. Other than capital punishment acting as a deterrent, there is contention on whether it saves the country money. I say it does because; the money used on inmates could be used for other governmental projects. For instance, it is a fact that the government is spending a lot of tax payers’ money just to feed and maintain prisoners, and a good fraction of these prisoners are convicts who are on death row, but their sentences have not been actualized. According to Watkins (2011), death penalty leads to decreased criminal activities. Further Watkins establishes that the present day cost of maintaining a convict in a US jail is approximately 8% of the total tax dollars. Therefore, if capital punishment is upheld, and carried out within an appropriate time without keeping a capital crime offender too long, and again not executing them too early, then lots of murderers would be removed from the society. This would in turn save the government millions of dollars.

In conclusion, I believe that no one should show mercy on death row inmates. These capital offenders take from our society what they have not sowed, and I feel it is time they were shown no mercy. They murder our neighbors, rape our children and destroy our lives among other vices. Therefore, I feel it is time that other American states embraced what Texas is doing in handling capital crimes, for I believe every offender would think twice before committing a capital offence. However, we should prove beyond reasonable doubt that the person we are executing is the real offender so that we do not end up convicting an innocent soul.

Reference

Watkins, C. (2011). The Ethics of Capital Punishment. Detroit, Mich: Greenhaven Press.