Dustin Mills
             CRJ 103M
             Death Penalty
            
             Eye for an Eye
             It is a time of mourning for the United States. They ate now being compared with the countries they, themselves, condemn. The death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment because it breaks sacred amendments and commandments. The death penalty should no longer be an option. According to many people, "we have progressed since the barbaric stone-age,"(Alexander 1) yet our judicial system does not seem to show it. Murdering someone is a barbaric act, whether it is by an individual, society, or our government. Everyone has heard the saying, "two wrongs don't make a right," what one would call the death penalty? The death penalty must be eliminated because it kills innocents and destroys our fundamental human rights: "the right to life" (Reddal 1), it is racially biased, it is based on revenge not as a deterrent and it does not deter crime, it is more expensive.
             Whether someone wants to believe it or not, innocent people have been sent to death row. "From 1900 to 1985, 350 people imposed with the death penalty were innocent, and 23 of those people were actually put to death" (Cruel 2). Supporters of the death penalty seem to show no remorse for these deaths. One supporter said, "In the medical profession almost 100,000 people were wrongly killed every year by errors, and we fix them and move on" (McLaughlin 2). These barbaric acts should not come as a shock, though. "The United States is one of only five countries in the world that execute minors. The U.S. joins Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen" (Cruel 1). It seems that ironic that all four other countries the U.S. condemns for human rights violations. "Abma criticized the U.S. for using a 'double standard' in human rights cases. He said a large gap exists 'between what the U.S. is saying to others and what the U.S. is doing to its own citizens.' He cited cases of police brutality and poor prison conditions, aside the obviou...