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The death penalty is an effective crime deterrent, at least for the one's who are put to death. The problem is that not very many criminals make it there, and many of them know they won't. The problem isn't with the death penalty, it is with law enforcement. This is not a slam at the police department, they do the best they can. It is a slam at the justice system.

I love our justice system, I think it's the best there is, but it needs to get back to basics. If someone commits a crime, they should be tried and then they should be punished. If you knew committing X crime would lead to death, or that committing Y crime would lead to life imprisonment, you might think twice about committing these crimes. Instead, we let people out because there is no room in the jails, or we slap them on the wrist and let them go right back out to commit more crimes.

I am an advocate for the death penalty. I believe people who commit some crimes should be put to death. If this happened more often, the jails might not be as full. As it is, even the one's that make it there go through about 14 years of appeals beforehand. Do I want people put to death that are not guilty? No, but if the evidence is there to prove the crime, the person should pay the penalty of their own life. I don't believe it should ever be circumstantial, it should be solid.

That said, I reiterate that the problem is not that the death penalty is not effective as a crime deterrent. The problem is that we are not using it. When you do nothing, you do not deter crime.

Learn more about this author, Angela S. Young.
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