Capital Punishment: Position Paper

             Although Canada abolished the death penalty in 1976, the debate over capital punishment continues to surface in Canadian social institutions such as school classrooms and the media. This is not surprising, however, when you consider the fact that the US government, and a vast majority of states south of the 49th parallel, still support capital punishment. Nevertheless, capital punishment is an out-dated system that serves no real purpose in today's modern society; it is essential for the civilized world to cease executions and prohibit the death penalty from murdering another victim.
             How can we, as members of society, say that we truly value human life, when our answer to murder is yet another senseless act of murder? Capital punishment is relative of the old-fashioned motto "an eye for an eye," which no longer has any grounds in the twenty- first century. The very idea of capital punishment promotes anger, vengeance and violence as a means to solve our problems; it allows usually level-headed individuals to give into the dark desires for retaliation and bloodlust. Capital punishment is hypocritical and a direct threat to humanity, capable of destroying the delicate fabric of any humane society. In a world already engulfed with tales of war and violence and graphic images in the media, capital punishment only spur the flames of hatred and violence onward. Innocent lives risk execution with the death penalty in place. Ryan Matthew, Dennis Williams and Ray Krone were all death row inmates found innocent after years of being on death row. Ryan Matthew, incarcerated as a teenager, was vindicated after DNA evidence proved he had nothing to do with a 1997 robbery and murder of a grocer. Krone and Williams were also convicted of murder they did not commit. Matthew spent seven years on death row before he was released, Krone spent ten years, while Williams spent eighteen years, only yards away from the execution ch...

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