Dear Future President,

My name is Sydney, and I am writing this to discuss the issue of the death penalty. On June 11, 2001, Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection for bombing a federal building in Oklahoma City. He was also known as the Oklahoma City bomber. Now, some people may think of this as serving “justice” because he committed such a horrible act, but how do we define “justice?” Based on the actions that they have done, does this give us the right to kill them? Is ending their life considered “doing what’s right?” No, it isn’t. “An eye for an eye makes the world go blind,” Ghandi once said. Hence, I believe that the death penalty should be abolished once and for all.

The use of the death penalty has been traced back as far as 18th century B.C in Babylon. As we use these outdated practices, we continue to live in the past. We are living in the year 2016, not 1750 B.C. There are other ways to deal with dangerous criminals besides killing them. We are no better than the people who committed the crimes if we continue with these “justified” murders.

Although, we have begun to see a change in the recurrence of this convention. The use of the death penalty has been on the decline since 2013, with about 39 total executions in that year. Along with this, more and more states are abolishing the death penalty altogether. We need to continue with this trend until all states no longer allow it. As the next leader, you need to lead by example and help show the next generation that the use of the death penalty is not the answer for justice.

Sincerely,

Sydney H.