One of the most controversial topics in America today is the death penalty. For four thousand years, the death penalty has been used throughout the world. In previous centuries, townspeople would hang people if they were accused of being witches, but they weren't witches at all. They just knew a little more information than the next person. They were wrongly accused, and that is why I consider the death penalty immoral, unethical and simply unacceptable! People were put to death for no reason; they were accused because there was not enough evidence to prove their innocence. Here in America, you are innocent until proven guilty. That's not how it is, you're guilty until proven innocent, that's the right way to view today's society. In this essay I will show statistics, advantages, disadvantages, moral issues, etc. regarding the death penalty. The word “Capitol”; in “Capital Punishment”; refers to a person's head. In the past, people were often executed by cutting their heads off from their bodies. The United States is one of the few industrialized countries in the world that executes criminals. It is one of the few countries in the world that executes the mentally ill, people with very low IQs, and murders children (i.e. people who were under 18 at the time of their crime ). On August 22, 2000, "Virginia and Texas each executed two men who committed their crimes when they were under 18" (Sara Rimer and Raymond Bonner). Which, in my opinion, is simply false As of October 19, 2000, in the last decade of the 20th century, 547 prisoners had been executed in the United States, with another 3,500 people waiting on death row in Texas. people prefer to maintain or abolish the death penalty, approximately 60 to 80% of American adults say they want to maintain capital punishment. The numbers vary depending on the exact wording of the question asked by pollsters. 'they would like to see executions continue or replace them with a system guaranteeing life imprisonment without any hope of parole that the inmate would work in the prison to earn money and that the money would be used to help the family; of the person(s) they killed. Capital punishment has been a topic of debate for many years, and people continue to... middle of paper..... "...the race of the accused or victim in deciding whether to impose or no the death penalty.” (Bonner). Based on the facts I stated above, I believe the death penalty is very racist. In conclusion, the death penalty may seem to be the best solution, but in reality, I believe it is not. Like I said, it's America's best deterrent to murder, it saves our country money, and most importantly, it ensures that a murderer doesn't get killed. will have no chance. kill again. But America is going against its own law and joining society in this reprehensible action. An innocent life may be at stake and no one will ever know. Bonner, Raymond, "Push Is on for Larger Jury in Military Capital Cases," New York Times, September 3, 20012. Bonner, Raymond and Rimer, Sara, "A mentally retarded man facing execution in Texas draws wide attention,” New York Times, November 12, 20003. Cohen, Richard “Hangman, Go Away” The Washington Post, September 26, 2000 (editorial)4. Expert documentation: executions /http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/