“Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.” These are the closing lines of a poem by John Donne. The poem mean that as humans every death affects us. We should mourn for every death because they are human just like us and therefore a loss to this world. The funeral bell mentioned in the poem is symbolic of death, and means that every time a funeral bell rings for the dead, it is ringing for us as well. What does this have to do with the death penalty, you might ask? Truly there are few things one could hear that would be more relevant. The death penalty is wrong because it is revenge, it hurts the families of the criminals and it is inhumane. Criminals, no matter how vile, cruel, depraved, and inhumane we think of them, are still human, and their death is still a loss to humanity. When we are the cause of that death, we are just as cruel, depraved, and inhumane as the criminals ever were.
An eye for an eye is a phrase that is often heard when debating the death penalty. I think this phrase is illogical. What it basically says is revenge is ok, and revenge is never ok. The bible states “Vengeance is mine, saith the lord, leave it unto me.” Jesus therefore is saying that taking revenge on someone, no matter what they have done, is wrong. Most religions agree with this. I am sure you can find it in yourself to agree that the attitude that agrees with revenge is an immoral attitude. If we start “getting back” at everyone who has done us wrong then we just become animals feuding and hurting each other all the time. Rather than helping each other and making the world a better place, we would destroy the world we love. Execution for murderers, many of its proponents say, is not revenge, it is justice. It is revenge and it is no better than pulling the hair of someone who took your pudding. In fact, it is worst. At least when you pull someone’s hair you do not kill them.
Secondly, many proponents of the death penalty say that it brings a sense of peace to the victim’s family. While this is true, it hurts the family of the murderer victims as well, and while the murderer obviously did something wrong, for the most part their family did not. It must be an awful feeling for the mother of a murderer to know that the child they raised purposefully killed another human. Despite this you will always love them. Family is family and no matter how awful they are you still love them. You may not like them. You may not approve of what they do but you still love them. To kill a murderer adds even more pain to the lives of the murderer’s family. Unnecessary, unwanted pain. The comfort that the victim’s family gets from the execution is founded, but that doesn’t make it any less sick, any less wrong. As I said in the previous paragraph, revenge is immoral even it does give you a since of finality and comfort.
Lastly, the death penalty is inhumane. The 8th amendment states clearly that “cruel and unusual punishment shall not be inflicted” by the government. To me ending another humans life prematurely is cruel and it certainly is unnatural. You may say, “But the founding fathers said it was ok so it must not count as cruel and unusual punishment.” The founding fathers also thought slavery was ok, do you agree with them on that issue? Every human has a divine right to live and not to worry about losing that life, just as every human has a right to be free. It is a horrible tragedy to have any human desecrate that right, and it is even worse to have that right violated by the government in the name of the entire citizenry. Thomas Jefferson says that the three greatest rights we have are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Life is the first one he lists, for without a right to life all other rights are irrelevant.
To conclude, execution is wrong. It is wrong because it is revenge, punishment for the criminals family, and inhumane. You can call it whatever you want. Justice, execution, come upping’s, but it is at its core murder. It is legal murder but murder just the same and therefore no better than cold blooded murder. Holly Near said “We kill people, who kill people, to show that killing people is wrong." This sums up the logic of the death penalty perfectly, or rather its lack of logic. So next time you hear of an execution remember their funeral bell isn’t just ringing for you, it is ringing for all of us.
