Capital Punishment Should be Abolished

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"What says the law? You will not kill. How does it say it? By killing!"
-Victor Hugo, author of Les Misérables
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the practice of killing criminals or accused criminals (Issitt, Micha L.Newton, Heather.) In most Western countries still using this practice, death by lethal injection is most common(“Forms of Execution in the United States”) and in the United States federal capital punishment is mostly used in cases of first degree murder or murder in which the killer meant and planned to kill the victim or victims, but is also used for espionage and treason(Federal Laws Providing for the Death Penalty.) Many other Western countries have banned capital punishment. However most of the United States, including the military and a federal punishment, continue to use this dated punishment, with the exceptions of Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin and District of Columbia who have banned capital punishment in their state constitutions(“States With and Without the Death Penalty”.) Punishment by death penalty has been quite controversial as some feel criminals should “pay” the equivalent of the crime they committed, while others feel that death, under any circumstances, is too harsh a punishment for any government to administer. An alternative to the death penalty is life without parole in which the accused spends the rest of their life in prison (“Life without Possibility of Parole”.) Capital punishment should be prohibited as it can too easily kill innocent people, it is used discriminatorily and it is unconstitutional.
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.... 14 Jan. 2014.
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