Siegwald 1

Allie Siegwald
Mr. Geist
HELA 10
19 November 2016
Reaffirming the Sanctity of Life
All grandeur, all power, and all subordination to authority rests on the executioner: he is
the horror and the bond of human association. Remove this incomprehensible agent from the
world and at that very moment order gives way to chaos, thrones topple and society disappears
(Marie). The ability of someone to take another human beings life away should never be taken
lightly. It should not happen in the spur of the moment, it shouldnt be a split second decision.
Condemning a person to their death is an immensely difficult decision to make, but it is one that
must be made, because some people are just so far gone, morally as a human being that they
truly dont deserve to live anymore. Supporters of this opinion are heavily criticized by those that
are pro-life, and because of the extremely polarized stances on this topic, the death penalty has
become a very controversial topic. But when all biases are put aside, it becomes very clear that
the death penalty is necessary in order to protect society, and ultimately deter the amount of
crimes overall that are committed. The death penalty itself also supports the moral obligation that
some crimes are just so atrocious that they must be punished by death. The death penalty
certainly cannot bring back those that have been lost to inhumane criminals, but it can defend
their memory and ensure that their murderer is punished to the extent that they ought to be; by
death.
It is understandable that within the current justice system, many strive to be fair and to
protect the rights of the offenders, but what cant be allowed to happen is for the rights of the

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victims to be ignored or minimized. People lost their lives to these monsters; the victims were
ripped away from the world unjustly by the hands of bestial murderers. The people that lost their
lives unfairly at least deserve to have their memory defended by ensuring that the beast who
killed them is unable to ever prey on the lives of others again. In 1991, a 2-year-old girl was
kidnapped, raped, sodomized, tortured and mutilated with vise grips over a period of six hours.
She was then strangled to death. Her assassin, Theodore Frank, had already molested more than
100 children during a 20-year period (cite). Stories like these bring on a feeling of horror and
disgust, but what people need to realize is that terrible stories like these are occurring every
single day; that there truly are villains out there who are sick enough to do unthinkable things to
other people, and it is people like those who deserve to die. If an offender has committed
murder, he must die. In this case, no possible substitute can satisfy justice. For there is no parallel
between death and even the most miserable life, so that there is no equality of crime and
retribution unless the perpetrator is judicially put to death (Kant). No matter how much of an
aversion people may have to the thought process of sentencing someone to their death, there is
no punishment equal to the death penalty. The death penalty is a necessary tool that reaffirms the
sanctity of human life and makes sure that inhumane monsters who do nothing but take life away
never hurt anyone else.
Murder, more than any other crime, is a crime against society. The victim was by nature a
part of society, and by assaulting that individual, society itself has been attacked. Judge Robert E.
Crowe, a distinguished state attorney for Cook County Illinois, graduated from Yale in 1990 and
after several years of working with murder cases, publicized his opinion on the death penalty.
Crowe strongly disagrees with the theory that most or all murderers are not responsible for their
acts. He believes that all humans are both morally and legally responsible for the acts that they

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commit. He also stands strongly affirmed that even if any person has committed an act against
society, they must and should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. As long as that person
is still alive, they represent a live threat to society and to the lives of innocent people, and that in
order to ensure maximum safety to those that live within society, people must be prosecuted that
pose a danger. Persons whose existence means death and disaster to others who have done no
wrong have no claim upon society, for anythingnot even for life itself. That quote sums up
this credible mans strong belief that if a person being alive is only causing hurt and havoc to
other people, then that persons life should undoubtedly be taken away to ensure the safety of
society.
Much of the talk that surrounds the death penalty has to do with moral injustices and
other ethical things, but there are also cold hard facts that support the use of the death penalty. In
1985, a study was published by the University of North Carolina that showed that every
executions deters, roughly, eighteen murders. The same study also showed that if the number of
death sentences were increased by one percent, about 105 murders would be prevented. These
facts were proven to be true when in 1972 capital punishment was temporarily suspended and the
number of murders rose significantly. In 1960, there were 56 executions in the US and 9,140
murders; by 1964, there were only 15 executions, and the number of murders rose to 9,250. In
1969, there were no executions and 14,590 murders, and by 1975, after six years with no
executions, 20,510 were occurring. Those statistics back up the fact that the less executions there
are, the more murders that occur. Even more recently, in the USA in 1995 there were 56
executions and there has been a twelve percent drop in the murder rate nationwide. All of these
facts simply prove that the death penalty will ultimately deter the amount of crime.

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The most common argument that is made against the death penalty is that it is equivalent
to a form of state-sanctioned murder. People feel that the government should not being taking
away something that they cant give back, and in this case that thing is someones life. Many
others have religious or ethical bias against the death penalty; they argue that taking away the
life of a sinner is not what God wants us to do. People of religion tend to advocate more for lifelong imprisonment instead of the death penalty. But these arguments seem to not acknowledge
the fact that even if a criminal is in a prison, there is the very legitimate possibility of breakout,
and that as long as that singular person is still alive, they pose a threat to the lives of innocent
people. People who claim that sentencing a murderer to "life without the possibility of parole"
protects society just as well as the death penalty ignore three things: (1) life without the
possibility of parole does not mean life without the possibility of escape or (2) life without the
possibility of killing while in prison or (3) life without the possibility of a liberal governor being
elected and issuing a pardon (Sowell). This quote illustrates the fact that even if a person is
being held in prison, not only is there the very real danger of them escaping, but they might end
up killing others while in prison, which relates directly to the argument saying that as long as
they are alive they pose a threat to the lives of others. Also, by saying that even though someone
has taken away the life of another they still deserve to live, it seems that it is being ignored that
an innocent soul was taken out of the world by the hands of a monstrous killer. One moment that
person was alive, and the next, theyre being ripped away from reality far too soon. By taking
away another life, that person has earned the right to die.
Its a simple fact that there are terrible people in the world, people who will willingly take
away the life of others. These people have committed an unforgivable crime, one that cannot be
punished fairly unless it is by death. By doing so, they have sinned against society and against all

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of humanity, and for the protection of all people within our society, they must die. Not only do
we have a moral obligation to put down these criminals, but there are also solid facts that show
that more executions deter the amount murders in the US. So at the end of the day, it is crucial to
the safety of this society that we take away the lives of those who have taken away the lives of
others. There can be no justice until those uninjured by the crime become as indignant as those
who are (Solon).

Grading
Criteria

Description

Points

Content
and Ideas

Organization

Clear argument about social issue

Support uses
ethos
logos
pathos
4 or more credible sources used
Antithesis addressed and refuted

Effective introduction and conclusion

include hook, thesis, and final statement

10

20

30

40

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10

20

30

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3 organized paragraphs include claims,

explanations, and transitions

Sequence is logical

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Diction/
Syntax/
Conventions

Writing is all in 3rd person

Quotations are embedded and properly

cited within the essay

0-3 Errors in grammatical structure

Publication/
Appearance

Creative title/rough draft ready on

editing day 2/16-17

Proper MLA formatting; heading that

includes student name, instructors name,
class, and date

Works cited page is appended.

10 15

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10 15

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/15 Self grade