eguards against executing persons and that the danger of executing the innocent is small.Advocates of the death penalty generally argue either that existing safeguards against executing innocent people are present in the system, especially in the appeals process and that occasional executions of innocent people are unfortunate, but necessary risks in a society which expects to protect itself. (Katha Pollitt, New York)Death penalty opponents argue that capital punishment is expensive, costing more than it would cost to imprison murderers for life. Proponents of the death penalty argue that the death penalty is a cost-effective alternative to life imprisonment, or that death penalty costs could be lowered by restricting appeals. (Katha Pollitt, New York)Both sides to this argument are very well represented and stated. It is hard to make a decision on weather or not to take a man's life because he has committed some deviant act that society (or a jury of 12 people) feels that there is no other punishment they can give that person but death. I am still in favor for the death penalty for the same reasons I have said before. Our society needs a penalty for these serious violent offenders. If we did not, we would have very serious inmates still in our prison systems. Besides, I kind of believe in the old saying: an eye for an eye. Now I think, of course, that there should be exceptions for people who have involuntary killed a person or even killed a person in self-defense. If anything we should become stricter on the kinds of crimes that we hand down the death sentence to. This, in turn, might make all the violent offenders think twice before they commit the crime....
