The most important responsibility that the government of the United States holds is to protect every citizen's right to security. When a person commits a crime he chooses to sacrifice his rights as a citizen and is forced to face the consequences regardless of the severity. The most brutal form of punishment is that of death. The death penalty or capital punishment has remained a controversial topic for several decades, and the debate is far from over. .
Supporters of the death penalty claim that the threat of execution is a crime deterrent, but how can someone accurately measure the successes of the death penalty? Most crimes are that of passion and they are based upon emotions. It is doubtful that the fear of excessive punishment ever enters the offender's mind, and the general public seems to agree. A Gallup Poll in 1991 found that seventy-five percent of Americans supported the death penalty while only thirteen percent believed that it had a deterrent effect on crime (Nygaard 113). If incarceration and execution are equally effective then the death penalty is not necessary and therefore not justifiable. .
The death penalty is neither morally or legally just. Although the Bible recommends capital punishment in certain cases, modern-day Christians are torn on whether it is acceptable or not. When taken literally the "eye for an eye" passage in the book of Exodus seems to be saying that if someone takes the life of another person the punishment should be equal to the crime which lead to his death by means of execution. However, if the murderer was incarcerated, that person would loose all freedoms that constitute life, essentially he would be giving "life for life" as suggested in the Bible (Prejean 56). The prisoner would have to pay his debts to society for the rest of his life. The moral costs of the death penalty are high; it teaches and endorses revenge. The death penalty carries a reckless attitude toward human life; it becomes degrading.
