Good in Theory
Conversation surrounding the death penalty has recently resurfaced in the mainstream after President Donald Trump advocated for the death penalty for drug dealers. Some supporters love the idea, citing the statistic that drug dealers kill on average 500 people in their lifetimes. Others are strongly opposed to the government having the authority to end someone's life.
Ever since the beginning of time the death penalty has been used to punish the worst criminals in society. The first established laws regarding the death penalty date back to the Eight Century B.C and the code of Hammurabi. The death penalty can also be seen many times thoughout the Bible in the Old Testament and is mentioned in the United States Constitution's 5th Amendment which says "No person shall: be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." In order to completely do away with the death penalty we would likely need a constitutional amendment expressly forbiding it, because it is defacto mentioned in the 5th Amendment.
On a personal level I agree that there are crimes so evil and so heinous that the perpetrator should be killed for their actions. Pedophiles, mass murderers, and people of that ilk should never waste another breath of perfectly good oxygen. If someone was to break into my home with the intent to do me or a family member harm there would be a swift on sight execution of the death penalty. Putting these prisoners in jail for life without parole (LWOP) creates an unessecary burden on the tax payer causing us to pay to house and feed the most vile demented people in our society. Many statistics point out that the current method of execution actually costs more than an LWOP sentence. As a result multiple states have begun to adopt different execution methods that cost significantly less nullifying that criticism.
The death penalty works. There are no two ways about it. Someone will never commit another crime if they are dead. Pedophiles and mass murderers will never have the chance to harm anyone again from 6 feet under. It is an undeniable crime deturance, and highly effective. So in theory, I do agree with the idea of a death penalty for people who are proven guilty of unthinkable evils.
Terrible in Practice
Government can not be trusted to do anything right. Although the death penalty makes sense on paper the primary "x" factor will always be government's execution of it. We are imperfect people capable of making mistakes. I would rather allow a mass murderer to live than send one innocent man to his death. Our natural imperfection and ability to get things wrong has resulted in countless innocent people being killed for crimes they never committed all throughout history.
We could look back in American history to the days of the wild west and find potentially hundreds of examples of people who were framed or wrongly convicted and hanged. Unfortunately that won't be necessary.
Before the days of DNA evidence our legal system viewed eyewitness testimony as the highest caliber of evidence. Everything changed however when DNA evidence was discovered. This led to the reexamination of thousands of convictions. As of 2011 there were over 273 people including 17 death row inmates that were exonerated as a result of DNA testing. That means that our system has gotten it so wrong that we had wrongly sentenced 17 innocent people to death row and would have executed them had it not been for DNA evidence saving their lives. Who knows how many innocent people were wrongfully taken from their families and put to death by the state?
Even now, with the presence of DNA evidence I do not trust our government to get it right 100% of the time. Because of that I can not support the death penalty. Again I say, I would rather let a mass murderer go than send an innocent man to death.
