by Albert Juul

Created on: January 06, 2007   Last Updated: May 16, 2007

There are people on this planet that commit unspeakable crimes against other people. People that murder, rape and torture others for no other reason than they felt like doing it. If these people don't deserve to die for their crimes than who does.

My question is this, who are we to decide who lives and who dies. Are we any better than the murderers if we ourselves take a life even in the name of justice. The death penalty is a barbaric practice. By putting a person to death we are not punishing them, we are taking revenge on them for their crimes and revenge is never justice.

How are we to insure that innocent men and women are never executed for crimes they did not commit? Innocent people have been executed, it has happened, it will happen again. Our system of justice is not perfect. Witnesses may lie, evidence may be mis-interpreted, and defense attorneys are some times incompetent. Once an innocent person has been executed the mistake can not be corrected.

If we as a civilized society are to ever move forward into the future than we must re-examine our belief in an eye-for-an-eye. The death penalty is an archaic inhumane and immoral practice that diminishes all people every where. Life in prison is a more humane option because revenge is never justice.

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