Is the Death Penalty Justified?

The death penalty is the only way to truly and fully make people understand the severity of what they have done. In extreme cases, there is only one way to be able to bring justice, and it should be after extreme and careful consideration that the decision is made. Many people have many opinions on this, and it should be more of a concern because the current governor has a moratorium on executions which means they are not being carried out right now, but he will soon be out of office and the status might change.

Some people say that criminals who are given the death penalty are sometimes innocent; now this is true but changes can be made to the death penalty to make it impossible for this to happen. We wouldn’t have to get rid of it altogether. Another argument that people have is that the death penalty ruins what could have been, but when you think about the types of people who are given the death penalty, they are normally the kind of person who if they weren’t killed would never learn their lesson and they would possibly just continue on the path they had previously been on. A teacher at Pennridge High School Christopher Durante said, “If you kill someone there’s no coming back from that.” This belief is popular in today’s society. With all this being said it only makes sense to keep the death penalty in our society. There may be things that have to be changed within it.

Another teacher from Pennridge High School, Thomas Wyatt, says that the only way the death penalty should be used is if the criminal is guilty, “Without a doubt.” There need to be stricter rules to prevent any kind of mistake from being made, but it is a necessary punishment that should have a part in our justice system. From the University of Santa Clara, “Capital punishment benefits society because it may deter violent crime.” (Claire Andre, Manuel Vasquez.) If we got rid of the death penalty, crime rates would only rise.