There are many things that I don’t agree with in today’s society, but out of all the wrong doings that take place, I believe the death penalty is the worst of them all. I am strongly against the death penalty because it violates God’s rules, costs the tax payers too much money, prisoners could be wrongly convicted, and it is cruel and unusual punishment.

The first reason why I do not support having the death penalty is that it violates religious beliefs. Many religions, such as my own, Catholicism, follow the rules that God sent to us through the Ten Commandments. One of the most important of those then states, “Thou shall not kill.” If you are executing an individual, that clearly violates this commandment. Murdering any person, no matter what the individual has been convicted of, is a mortal sin. Therefore, anyone who aids in executing people will be punished by God. I believe that religious beliefs, such as the Ten Commandments, are the corner stone for our law system. Executing someone shouldn’t be made an exception to the God’s rule.

My next reason against the death penalty is that the tax payers waste too much of their money with the death penalty in place. The average death penalty case is appealed three times. This means that the tax payers must pay for the same trial to be heard three times. This is a very expensive practice. Also, the average convicted murderer spends 12 years on death row. If supporters of the death penalty are positive enough to kill the person for committing the crime, shouldn’t the supportes be confident enough to execute them in a timely manner? Why spend the tax payer’s money keeping these inmates in jail for so long? Tax payer’s money should go to better society, not to accommodate the prisoners that are going to end up executed.

Another major reason for opposing the death penalty is, what if the prisoner was wrongly convicted. Throughout the history of the death penalty, there was numerous cases in which it is determined that the person executed did not commit the crime. New evidence maybe found years after the individual has been put to death. There is no way to say sorry and get that person’s life back. Also, the person accused maybe to poor to hire an adequate lawyer. The court appointed attorneys are often too over-worked and inexperienced to be of adequate assistance to the accused. Therefore, the person is convicted of a crime they didn’t commit and subsequently but to death. I believe, if society is ready to have a person executed, the supporters should be sure the accused received a fair trial.

The final reason that the death penalty should be abolished is that it is cruel and unusual punishment. To extinguish a person’s life is cruel no matter what way it is administered. Many states believe it is ok to execute someone since they have upgraded from the traditional electric chair to the more modern gas chamber. Any way of executing someone is barbaric. If every crime’s punishment was “tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye’” what would happen to society? Would the same people that support the death penalty, support getting their hand chopped off for shop-lifting?

The death penalty is a cruel and barbaric practice that must be eliminated from today’s society. With the many advances that society has made, executing people for crimes the person may have or may not have committed is still practiced. It violates so many religions beliefs. It is a cruel and unusual practice that must be done away with. Society must advance and eliminate the death penalty, hopefully never to come back again.