An Eye for an Eye

As an American citizen, one receives the rights of life, liberty, and property. If someone is to rob one of these freedoms of life, the court should also take away his or her freedom. Murderers in the United Stated receive too little of a punishment when they kill another human being. Reinstating the death penalty has hardly deterred criminals. This is because of the easy sentences that criminals can receive after they murder another human being.

Presently in the United States, the average sentence for murder is six years. If a person were to kill someone when they were twenty-three years old, they would be out roaming the streets again before they reach the age of thirty. The United States government releases hundreds of murderers every day. These murderers are the men and women who brutally kill innocent people.

Rarely does a murderer receive a sentence of life imprisonment. The court gives the death penalty to a very small percentage of murderers. Second degree murder is when a criminal kills another person without premeditation. The punishment for second-degree murder is fifteen years imprisonment; hardly enough time to pay for the life that was taken away. First degree murder is when a criminal intentionally murders the person after having thought about it for a while. The sentence for this murder is life imprisonment, but this is hard to prove, takes too long, and costs a lot of money. Life imprisonment rarely results in living the rest of your life in prison. Criminals know this and that is why they continue to kill other human beings.

The death penalty protects those American citizens who have not committed the crime of murder. The death penalty can save lives by stopping repeat murders. Six percent of those released from prison murder again within the next six years. Making the death penalty mandatory for those who kill another human being would prove effective in cutting down the amount of homicide in the United States. Something would finally be done and would be permanent enough to deter criminals from committing this heinous crime. When the United States government reinstated the death penalty, the number of murders went down twelve percent.

An American citizen has taken the life of another. A murderer has ripped somebody's wife, daughter, husband, son, or loved one out of their life. The person who does this is sent to jail. He or she is then provided with a free place to live, television, access to a gym, work to keep busy, and three square meals a day. This life seems to have more perks then the lives of low class, hardworking Americans. Jails are equipped with these privileges to those that took the life of your loved one. When someone takes the life of another, his or her punishment must be more painful and more dangerous than the simple labor that he or she is given while in prison.

A major argument against the death penalty is that it costs too much money. Facts have proven that keeping an inmate in jail for life costs more than the death penalty. Many of the criminals who get out of jail on parole commit another crime. If it is for another murder or a drug bust, money is involved in putting them back in jail. Letting a murderer back out into the streets is also dangerous for the American society. The criminal justice system needs to make the punishment for murder more cut and dry. Capital punishment is proven to be cheaper than keeping an inmate in jail for life, and cheaper than the continuos reinstatement of criminals. Another argument is that it is inhumane to give a person the death penalty. The question of humanity was not an issue that the murderer dealt with when he or she killed another human being. In turn, this individual lost his or her right to anything humane when they stole another citizen's right to life. A man killed his wife because his dinner was not on the table when he returned home from work. This man received a sentence of thirty years in prison. The court paroled him after six years. A man who heartlessly murdered his wife is now walking the streets. He is going on with his life with probably no remorse. He has a new family, a wife and a little boy. It is only a matter of time before his wife forgets dinner, or his son does not do what he says. This man is a waste of space in this overcrowded country. He deserves to lose his right to life, just as his wife did.

If a person chooses to take the life of another, they relinquish their own right to life. The criminal justice system is not doing a good job getting this message across to the criminals. The prison sentences are not harsh enough, so the to not deter eradicator from killing. The murderer is familiar with these light sentences and they are aware that within six to ten years they will most likely paroled. If the death penalty were mandatory for murder, criminals would think twice about killing. Murderers should receive the harsh penalty of death after the carelessly take the life of another.

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