Drowning, beating to death, crucifixion, burning alive, hanging, the electric chair. All horrendous and excruciating ways to end another human beings life. Yet, the ultimate punishment has been going on as early as the Eighteenth Century B.C. Many might argue that it’s necessary and the only way for families of victims to have closure, but is it really? Killing someone should not be the way to solve ones problems.

The death penalty not only goes against humanity, but also contradicts one of the most important laws in the U.S.A. It may supposedly be for a good cause, but execution is still basically taking away someone’s life. Nowadays the Supreme Court says it’s ok as long as it doesn’t cause ‘intense pain and suffering.’ That can be pretty hypocritical considering the fact that not many people know the feeling of your soul being torn apart from your body. Probably the most “painless” form of execution would be lethal injection, but that is still a terrible experience to feel death gradually spread through your bloodstream, waiting for the tables to be turned.

More than half of our states still authorize the death penalty. The one with the most recorded executions is Texas. In the past year, it’s held more executions than all the other states combined. Imagine what it must be like to live in a place where over 1500 people are killed each year. Both legally and illegally.

If the authorities were to make a mistake and murder an innocent man, they wouldn’t simply be putting an abrupt end to his life. He might have had a family, a home, a job, and so much potential in him. There have been cases where someone confessed to a crime they didn’t commit and were taken seriously. Other times, a suspect was proven innocent just in time, but usually after many years of being arrested.

People say that those who are executed deserve to die but does anyone truly deserve to be killed? They might have made bad choices in life but that doesn’t mean we should simply take their lives away. Everyone in the world makes mistakes, and these specific people made the mistake of following the wrong footsteps or making a living out of breaking laws. Those who kill as punishment for a murderer may shrug, say they had it coming and move on to the next victim, but doesn’t that technically make them murderers as well?

The human race is the most violent race on the planet. We kill for money, for revenge, for dislike of the victim, and also for punishment. Although we may not want to admit it, we kill ourselves for the most trivial and ridiculous reasons. Before long we’ll end up no more than a pole of bones in the ground waiting for a new species to discover us. The only way to avoid this ghastly end is to get a grip on ourselves and do away with all the insanity. The only people who can save us, is ourselves, put an end to the death penalty.