On April 15, 2013 five hundred thousand people ran in the Boston Marathon, not knowing what was waiting for them as they neared the finish line. At 2:50 PM, a bomb went off. Twelve seconds later, it was followed by another. Although only three deaths occurred, two hundred sixty four people were injured. The perpetrator, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was labeled a terrorist by President Barak Obama (CNN). He was recently sentenced capital punishment for the horrible crimes which he has committed.

The United States Constitution states that citizens have the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Many abolitionists of the death penalty believe that execution goes beyond the necessary punishment, while in reality anyone that has committed a crime serious enough has already forfeited those privileges. Tsarnaev has removed the government’s protection of those three rights by choosing to break the laws on which they are conditioned. Although the death penalty can be seen as cruel and immoral, it is in fact supported by an ethical outlook, many Bible-based religions, and state laws.

There are many who would say that the death penalty is not moral because it takes away the life of a person, but they deserve death for the crimes that they have committed. While some may think that the judge does not have the right to put someone to death, the government has given them the power and they are made to follow the laws that everyone in the United States knows. As Alex Kozinski, a judge of the United States Court of Appeals, puts it, “A society that is not willing to demand a life of somebody who has taken somebody else’s life is simply immoral” (Death Penalty). If a society is unwilling to see that punishment is necessary for a crime as immoral as murder, society is no longer moral itself.

There are views from many different religions regardingthe correctness of the death penalty. Some Christians believe it is not their place to give someone the death penalty because they are just humans. Other Christians think that it is a good based on scriptures such as Leviticus 24: 17 which says “And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death”. That shows that they are given the ability to punish those that have committed a crime such as murder. Though the Catholic Church has taken a stance against the death penalty by claiming that it is a sign of desperation in an evil world, many other churches show public support for capital punishment. In fact, the National Association for Evangelicals, consisting of forty-seven Christian denominations and ten million people, as well as the Christian Coalition, Fundamentalist churches, and Pentecostal churches each support the death penalty as punishment for such serious crimes. These groups and denominations use words of the Bible, especially quoting the New Testament, to support and defend the death penalty.

Finally there are claims that the death penalty is unconstitutional. The Fifth Amendment states that “No person shall be held to answer for a capital […] crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury […] nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law […]”. These three most quoted rights are not a guarantee; they are conditioned on our willingness to live the law. When anybody breaks the law, they must be tried; capital trials are no different. The state must first prove guilt in cases of premeditated murder, accidental murder, or an act of violence that could easily have resulted in murder. The conclusion must have a unanimous verdict before a second round of trials requires the state to identify at least one capital offense, or aggravator (Sylvester, “Murder Trial jury shaped by Death Penalty Issue”)

As of 2002, death penalty must also be imposed through the findings of a jury, not a judge (Columbia Encyclopedia, “Capital Punishment”). The Eighth Amendment states that there will be no “[…] cruel or unusual punishments inflicted” and many quote this to say that execution violates this. Though it is true that in years past people have been killed in painful and unkind ways, there are now approved methods for carrying through the death penalty. Of the thirty-six states that have legalized the death penalty, 75% of their executions are done using a lethal injection (the Columbia Encyclopedia, “Capital Punishment”). This method acts quickly and is both humane and painless for the guilty. No amendment is broken by the legalized use of the death penalty and every step from trial to execution is carried through in a very appropriate way in order to ensure that the correct decision is made. If a person has committed a capital punishment, there is not legal defense against the use of death penalty so long as the evidence is sound.

Capital Punishment has always been a much debated topic. For those that say death penalty is immoral, that it goes against religion, or that it is unconstitutional, the laws regarding death penalty have been changed within the last thirty years; capital punishment should no longer have any resistance due to the careful process of determining someone’s guilt and the nature of the death penalty itself. Though capital punishment was often a rash decision in the past, it is now an effective and correct form of punishment for those that are so vile as to take the life of another human. People need to support capital punishment as a moral response. 

Citations
Kozinski, Alex, JD. "Death Penalty." ProConorg Headlines. Circuit Judge in the US Court of          
Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 10 Nov. 2004. Web. 27 May 2015.
O'Neill, Ann. "Boston Marathon Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Gets Death - CNN.com." CNN. Cable News
Network, 17 May 2015. Web. 27 May 2015.
Leviticus. King James' Bible. 17th Vers. Vol. 24. USA: Intellectual Reserve, 1979. Print.
"Death Penalty - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. Colombia Encyclopedia (6th Edition), n.d.
Web. 27 May 2015.
Sylvester, Ron. "Murder Trial Jury Shaped by Death Pnalty Issue." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., 8
May 2008. Web. 27 May 2015.