February 26, 2013

Death Penalty
The death penalty has been a controversial issue for a long time. People support both sides of the issue. In an interview, Ram was asked whether or not he supported the death penalty. He replied he thought that dangerous criminals deserve the death penalty for certain crimes, such as rape, all murders and attempted murders. He said the death penalty should be sustained, because there are a lot of benefits. For example, money spent for holding criminals in prison could be saved, prisons wouldn’t be overpopulated, and criminals wouldn’t be released from jail and continue their saga of crime.
One of the main reasons the death penalty should be continued is because countless dollars are invested in criminals in jails, and those dollars could be saved. For example, “State prison systems spend more than $30 billion annually, and the bureau of prisons budgeted $5 billion for just 182,000 federal inmates this year” (Myser). The money saved could be used toward education because the U.S spends six times more money on prison than on education. So why not spend those billions of dollars on education instead of spending on prions? More than sixty percent of all prison inmates are functionally illiterate, so if the U.S spent more money on education instead of prisons, the U.S might have fewer criminals in jail.
The second reason the death penalty should be continued is because of overpopulation in jails. Since 1990 there has been a record increase in the population of prisons; 1,000,000 inmates have been added nationwide to create a 70% increase. This addition has forced prisons to take on 475, 000 more inmates than they are designed to hold. In 2002, there was a record high population of 1.85 million inmates sitting in prison cells. Statically, 1,700 beds are built each week to handle the inflow of inmates. Inmates also receive medical benefits, educational benefits, and religious benefits. Inmates are allowed to watch cable television and even have microwave. Prisoners receive picnic days, recreation time, and visiting time. Does this sound like punishment to you? Instead of doing favors to them, why not give the death penalty to those who have raped or kill someone. As a result, the population in prison could be reduced, giving comfort to small time criminals and reducing the workload for the guards.
Last but not least, a reason to continue the death penalty is to stop criminals from being released on parole and carrying on their crimes. Dangerous criminals, such as killers or