This year in the U.S., 25 people have died by death row. Only 2 of them died by electrocution in Tennesse and the rest by lethal dose. The death row penalty has been around for a long time with its purpose being to execute prisoners that have been labeled as committing a capital crime.  The death penalty should be abolished because it doesn’t help in reducing crime/murder rates, gives it the wrong kind of attention which provokes the wrong behavior.  

While the purpose of the death penalty may be to kill criminals, it doesn’t necessarily help in decreasing crime rates, in fact, it does the opposite. “The available evidence indicates that the death penalty does not reduce murder rates. FBI Unified Crime reports show that states with the death penalty have homicide rates 48-101% higher than states without the death penalty” (Bushman).  It may seem reasonable to take away the life of a prisoner convicted of a capital crime but there is no point to it if its influencing higher murder rates. Adding on to that, in other countries that have abolished the death penalty it has shown that their murder rate has declined. “Since abolishing the death penalty in 1976, Canada’s murder rate has steadily declined and as of 2016 was at its lowest since 1966” (Amnesty). If abolishing death row has helped decrease the murder rate in other countries proven by the evidence presented, then it would make more sense to have it abolished then still having it around.  

 In addition, the death penalty gains an inhumane form of attention. Whatever the case may be no one should ever be killed in front of a live audience.  “All executions violate the right to life. Those carried out publicly are a gross affront to human dignity which cannot be tolerated” (Sahraoui Hassiba).  Public executions don’t serve any kind of legitimate purpose, all it does is increase this cruel and degrading punishment. Along with that, the death penalty answers violence with counter-violence. “The death penalty is used to deter killers, but it models the very behavior it seeks to prevent. It teaches the lesson that it is acceptable to kill, as long as the state is the one doing the killing. Hence the term “capital punishment,” (Bushman).  Just because an act of violence committed on the terms of ‘justice’ or in defense of peace doesn’t end violence. It only shows something paradoxical and unfair.  

How are people supposed to know right from wrong when the government is putting up this kind of example? The death penalty should be abolished, it doesn’t help in any kind of way and just contradicts itself. Instead of murdering a prisoner, that person should be put through a very strict rule of imprisonment — like isolation perhaps.