Capital punishment is one of the most controversial issues in our country today.
There are many arguments that defend each side of this issue, but those arguments that
support the death penalty are the most legitimate. Capital punishment should be allowed
as just compensation for the victims of a convicted killer.
There are many reasons that support capital punishment. One of these is that
capital punishment is a method of mercy. There are three ways that the death penalty can
be considered compassionate. The first of these ways is that capital punishment relieves
the murderer of the trepidation of his own memories. The images in a killer's head of the
victims he has slaughtered eat away at his soul. By executing the murderer, mercy is
shown because he has been put out of his own misery. Another way capital punishment
shows mercy is that it saves non-violent prisoners from the hands of morally corrupt
killers. In prisons, criminals convicted of non-violent crimes are often terrorized by
convicted murderers who feel that they have nothing to lose because of their long jail
sentence. By not executing these killers, others in the prison system are receiving
excessive punishment. The last of these merciful ways is that murderers that are not
executed may kill again. Newspapers today are overflowing of people who are killed
because a convicted killer walked free. These victims deserve mercy.
Another reason that supports capital punishment is the mentioning of the death
penalty in the Bible. In Genesis 9:6, God tells Noah that "Whoever sheds the blood of
man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man." This
statement clearly endorses the death penalty. In another Bible verse, Romans 13:4, Paul
says, "But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain:
for his is the minister of God, a re
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