"An execution is not simply death. It is just as different from the privation of life as a concentration camp is from prison. It adds to death a rule, a public premeditation known to the future victim, an organization that is itself a source of moral sufferings more terrible than death. Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated could be compared. For there to be an equivalency, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death on him and who, from that moment onward, had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not encountered in private life." 1
             First-degree murder involves the killing of one human being by another with malice aforethought and premeditation. Premeditation means with planning and deliberation. The amount of time needed for premeditation of a killing depends on the person and the circumstances. It must be long enough, after forming the intent to kill, for the killer to have been fully conscious of the intent and to have considered the killing.
             In thirty-six states, by committing first-degree murder you will be punished with the penalty of death. You will be tried, found guilty, condemned to death row where everyday that passes you are fully aware that you are going to die, and finally you will be killed at the hands of another person.
             The death penalty is a very controversial issue, and it should be. It is extremely hypocritical of one of the leading nations in the world to resort to using the death penalty. A man commits first-degree murder and is punished for his crime, but instead of spending the rest of his life in prison, he is sentenced to die in the same manner he was punished for.
             People should be punished for the crimes they commit, there is no doubt about that, but in this day-and-age, our government can resort to more humane and l...