Natalie Sicard (#20)

Expository Writing
Ms. Johnson
March 9, 2017

Fighting the Monsters Under Our Bed

Being worrisome of the vicious monsters under the bed as a child is a common fear
shared by all. However, as one gets older, these monsters always seem to disappear. But what if
they dont? Today, criminals are the new monsters and the United States is the new bed. The
only difference is these monsters wont go away with age. So what should be done? Capital
punishment is one of these debates that has been underway in the United States for years past.
Some say that criminals convicted of serious crimes deserve to be executed. Others view this
process as inhumane and something that should not take place in our country. If a criminal has
committed a horrendous crime one or even more times, he/she should be subjected to capital
punishment. Under circumstances like this one, capital punishment (more commonly known as
the death penalty) should certainly be a legal form of justice in the United States.
Capital punishment has been in practice all over the world in such places as Rome and
other parts of Europe, dating all the way back to ancient times (Hunter). The death penalty is still
in use today; although more specific rules as to when this method can be used have been
implemented. One cannot be inflicted with the death penalty if he/she is a minor. In addition to
this, the situation in which capital punishment can be used has to depend on the amount/type of
offence(s) the specific criminal has obtained. The most common and humane use of the death
penalty is to give the criminal a dose of a lethal injection. A now less common method is the use
of electrocution by way of the electric chair. Ways such as a firing squad, being hung and gas
chambers are rarely used if at all. (Limiting the Death Penalty). By taking these precautions
when discussing and using capital punishment, the death penalty is more effective than before.
Capital punishment should be kept legal in the United States to ensure the safety of the citizens
and make the United States government stronger.
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People who are put on death row are there for a reason. Due to the well placed
restrictions on capital punishment, someone isnt going to be put under the death penalty for
shoplifting or selling illegal drugs to minors. The people put on death row commit the most
horrific crimes that one can possibly commit. Timothy McVeigh the Oklahoma Bomber was
sentenced to the death penalty after killing 168 people and injuring hundreds more when a truck
containing a bomb was driven through Oklahoma City. Ted Bundy was also put on death row
and later killed under the death penalty when he was convicted of brutally murdering more than
thirty people by beating, strangling and even sexually harassing his victims. Later data revealed
that Bundy likely did this to a hundred plus people (Collins). How should justice be served to
criminals like McVeigh and Bundy? Putting these insane felons into a jail cell where they still
get daily exercise and social interaction is not proportionate to the crime they have committed. If
a loved one was brutally murdered by Ted Bundy, should this criminal still get three meals a day,
plenty of exercise and a bed to sleep on? Instead these criminals should be placed onto trial to be
decided whether or not they should be granted the gift of living in spite of all the atrocious
crimes they have proceeded to commit. Capital punishment needs to continue to be instated so
these criminals receive what they deserve.
There are a healthy amount of people who are against capital punishment and everything
it represents. The argument against the death penalty makes a lot of points. One of the points
being that the death penalty uses the action and behavior that it seeks to prevent. By fighting fire
with fire society murders the criminal to teach him/her and others a lesson about how murdering
and other crimes are terrible (Bushman). Does this make sense? This is not entirely true. Indeed,
the death penalty will teach others a lesson about these horrific crimes, but it will not be a
negative one; it will teach others to not commit the crime. This will significantly help crime rates
in the United States go down. This argument against the death penalty is not a concern and
should not be a factor in diminishing capital punishment.
There is another point near the center of the argument against capital punishment. The
concern is that an innocent person could be put on trial and wrongly sentenced to the death
penalty and put on death row. Fortunately, the nation does not have a reason to be concerned
about this. There is a wait time for those placed on death row; if a person hasnt committed the
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offence that has placed him/her on death row, the majority of the time they are proven innocent
before the procedure is done (Baum). Over 140 people have been freed from death row because
our government has successfully identified their innocence. 4% of criminals sentenced to death
row have been proven innocent (Pilkington). This number being so small proves how accurate
capital punishment is. In addition to this, these criminals had all been proven innocent and
were freed from their demise before it even happened. So although there is a debate against the
death penalty, the debate for it is a much stronger one.
As a child, the monsters under the bed went away. Today, criminals are the new monsters
who wont leave the new bed; The United States. Capital punishment can be debated by stating
that the system isnt reliable or it contradicts what it stands for. However in the end, the death
penalty needs to be kept in place to keep the nation safe from these monsters who commit
horrific crimes against the United States and the people in it. With the right amount of
restrictions, capital punishment (the death penalty) could make our country stronger.
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WORKS CITED

Baum, F. Kenneth, Ardis Dee Hoven. Top 10 Pros and Cons - Should the Death Penalty be

Allowed?. ProCon.org. 9 December 2016. 3 March 2017.

Bushman, Brad. "The Death Penalty Is a Flawed Form of Punishment." Death Penalty,

Greenhaven Press, 2015. 19 Jan. 2014. 3 March 2017.

Collins, Nick. Notorious Criminals who were Sentenced to Death. The Telegraph. Telegraph

Media Group Limited. 7 December 2010. 3 March 2017.

Hunter, Derek. "The Death Penalty Is an Effective Punishment." Death Penalty, Greenhaven

Press, 2015. 25 Aug. 2013. 3 March 2017.

Limiting the Death Penalty. Death Penalty Information Center. Death Penalty Information

Center. 2017. 3 March 2017.

Pilkington, Ed. US Death Row Study: 4% of Defendants Sentenced to Die are Innocent. The

Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. 28 April 2014. 3 March 2017.