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Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on current issues: the death penalty

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Your assignment is to prepare and submit a paper on current issues: the death penalty. The opponents of capital punishment believe that the right of living for all people, even convicts, and killers, is the basic human right that should be respected and so capital punishment should be replaced by other forms of punishment, such as life imprisonment. On the other hand, the proponents of capital punishment believe that it is important because it serves as a tool for deterring would-be criminals and murderers. For example, Edward I. Koch, in his article which is entitled "Death and Justice: How Capital Punishment Affirms Life," raises a strong and valid argument in favor of the death penalty. On the contrary, In "The Death Penalty," David Bruck attempts to argue that capital punishment does more harm than good and so, it should be abolished.

This controversial issue will never be defined which sides are right or wrong. There might be a trend in which one seems right. This trend has changed according to the times. During ancient times, people tended to take the death penalty for granted if a person killed somebody else: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. However, as time goes by, quite many people think the death penalty should be abolished, especially religious groups who think people’s life only depends on God. Actually, I was against the death penalty when I was young because I was, and still am, a Christian. However, as I grow up, my thought was changed. When I was young, I was too pure to believe that the world is full of nice people and just a few bad people. However, these days, all I could find and hear in news are crimes. I know there are still nice and warm people out there, but it is really difficult to find. Anyway, based on the current situation, we cannot abolish capital punishment. Capital punishment is a necessary evil for several reasons.

First of all, murderers’ and victims’ rights are equally important. Usually, people who claim that capital punishment should be abolished think murderers’ rights should be protected. Especially, as I mentioned above, religious groups think like that. I thought like them, too. That is because I was taught that anybody cannot take somebody’s life for whatever reason, but only God decides to take somebody’s life.