THIS HOUSE SUPPORTS THE DEATH PENALTY

Capital punishment is the sentence of death, or practice of execution, handed down as punishment for a criminal offence.
It can only be used by a state, after a proper legal trial. The United Nations in 2008 adopted a resolution (62/149) calling
for a moratorium on the use of the death penalty, however fifty-eight countries, including the United States and China,
still exercise the death penalty. As such, the topic remains highly controversial. Abolitionist groups and international
organizations argue that it is cruel and inhumane, while proponents claim that it is an effective and necessary deterrent for
the most heinous of crimes.
The death penalty can also help provide closure for the victim's family and friends, who will no longer have to fear the
return of this criminal into society. They will not have to worry about parole or the chance of escape, and will thus be able
to achieve a greater degree of closure.
Mary Heidcamp, a Chicago woman whose mother's killer faced the death penalty before the State Governor commuted
the sentences to life in prison, stated 'we were looking forward to the death penalty. I'm just so disappointed in the
system'1. Other victims' families deemed the decision a 'mockery', that 'justice is not done' 1.
1
Goldbery, Michelle. "The Closure Myth". Salon. January 21, 2003.Accessed June 30,2011
The death penalty is the only way to ensure that criminals do not escape back into society or commit further crimes while
in prison.
While in prison, it is not uncommon for those receiving life in jail sentences to commit homicide, suicide, or other crimes
while in jail, since there is no worse punishment they can receive 1. Putting dangerous murderers in prison endangers other
prisoners and the guards who must watch them.
The other advantage of execution is that it prevents the possibly of an escape from prison. Even the highest security
detention facilities can have escapees2. Thus, the only way to be absolutely certain that a convicted murder can no longer
hurt others is to execute them.
The death penalty can help ease the problem of overcrowded prisons in many countries, where keeping people for life in
prison contributes to expensive and at times unconstitutional overcrowding 1.
In 2011, California prison overcrowding was so problematic that a district court panel ordered authorities to release or
transfer more than 33,000 inmates. This decision was held up by the U.S. Supreme Court, which argued that the
conditions in the overcrowded prisons are so overwhelming that they constitute cruel and unusual punishment 2. Similarly,
in the United Kingdom two thirds of prisons in England and Wales have been deemed overcrowded 3.
As such, the death penalty may be preferable to life in prison since it helps alleviate a pressing problem in the criminal
justice system. It is better to execute those who deserve it than to be forced to release dangerous offenders into society
because prisons are overcrowded by people serving life sentences.