Bumper stickers often portray opinions on some of the toughest issues facing America today. I once read a bumper sticker that questioned "Why do we kill people who kill people, to show that killing people is wrong?" The United States is one of the few countries left in the world to practice the savage and immoral punishment of death. Retentionists argue that the death penalty prevents persons from committing the heinous crime of murder. It is proven that the death penalty does not deter persons from committing murder, nor does it serve as an example of the consequences of capital crimes to society. Furthermore, it is impossible to guarantee that the criminal justice system will not discriminate, or execute the innocent. And above all, the methods of execution are horrifying and barbaric, as well as devaluing of human life. We must realize that the life of a murderer is worth just as much as the life of the victim. The most widely used argument in support of capital punishment is that the consequence of execution influences criminal behavior more effectively than imprisonment does (Amnesty International). Although the argument may sound reasonable, in reality the death penalty fails as a deterrent. The punishment can only be a useful deterrent if it is rational and immediately used. Capital punishment cannot meet those conditions. The number of first degree murderers who are sentenced to death is small, and of this group an even smaller number of people are eventually executed. The possibility of increasing the number of convicted murderers sentenced to death and executed is declining because mandatory death sentences were declared unconstitutional in 1976 (NCADP). Murder and other crimes of violence are not always premeditated. For example gang violence, drive by shootings, and kidnapping are serious crimes that continue to be committed because the criminal thinks they are too clever to be caught. Most capital crimes ...
