the following points: Last October, Louisiana executed a man named Ernest Knighton. Knighton had killed a gas station owner during a robbery. Like any murder this was a terrible crime. But it was not premeditated, and is the sort of crime that very rarely results in a death sentence. Why was Knighton electrocuted when everyone else who commits this same crime was not? Was it because he was black( Bruck,1985, P. 483).According to deathpenalty.org, 54% of death row inmates are black. Why is race always an issue? This man murdered an innocent man and the author is defending him. Thousands of people will attack the death penalty. Victims family should be physically sickened when they think about how monsters gets three meals a day and a bed to sleep in, while someone they loved dearly lies dead in a coffin because of his actions. They will give emotional speeches about the one innocent man or woman who might accidentally get an execution sentence, and certainly that is a serious concern. However, all of these people are forgetting one crucial element. They are forgetting the thousands of victims who die every year by the hands of heartless criminals. There are more murderers out there than people who are wrongly convicted, and that is what we must remember. The Bible can be enterpeted many ways but this is clear Whomever sheds a mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed.(Genesis 9:6) The death penalty saves lives in that, by executing murderers, you prevent them from murdering again. Why should we let people who have been convicted of murder not be given the same punishment as what they did to their victims? Most convicted murderers and their lawyers plead for life instead of the death penalty. If they were tough enough to rape a little kid they should be tough enough to take the punishment? Those who oppose capital punishment bring to light the following arguments. When committing a serious crime does it occur to the criminal t...
