Dear future president of the United States,

Within our everyday issues that need to be addressed, I believe the death penalty should be one of them. To begin, crime rates are consistently rising. Between 1960-1968, the crime rate has increased over 11 times, and is even worse in today’s age. The Death Penalty Info website shows that 230 murderers and sexual predators from the five different boroughs were set free in 2012. This is the most since state record-keeping began in 1990. Despite the crime rates and releasing of criminals going up, the death penalty is becoming less common all over the nation. Killers and rapists are being released from upstate prisons in astounding numbers. State documents reveal that many criminals have returned to their home towns in the city. The Recidivism National Institute of Justice shows that within five years of release, about three-quarters of released prisoners were re-arrested. That means that more than 76% of killers and rapists are essentially being let to just to kill and rape again.

By enlarging the number of death penalty convictions, we would be decreasing the number of killers and rapists roaming our streets. Why wouldn’t that be a good thing? The increased use of the death penalty ruling would also become a deterrent for other criminals. We as people have a natural fear of death. By making the justice system more swift and severe, it could decrease the number of those crimes by deterring criminals from committing the crime in the first place. If every killer or rapist was killed the rates would go down, because everyone has a fear of dying. Life in prison isn’t always a bad thing. They are given 3 meals a day, a bed to sleep on, and are offered many types of programs to occupy their time. Many prisoners are allowed to train impounded dogs and go outside to run or play softball. All of these programs offered are the ones we pay for in taxes. So basically we are paying for someone who has raped or murdered another human, to play with dogs and participate in games. Rapists and killers shouldn’t be allowed to live, let alone live a life like that in prison.

Some people say that the death penalty faces problems with wrongful convictions. This could become a problem, however, Steven Stewart of the Prosecuting Attorney for Clark County Indiana says, “The risk of making a mistake with the extraordinary due process applied in death penalty cases is very small, and there is no credible evidence to show that any innocent persons have been executed at least since the death penalty was reactivated in 1976... The inevitability of a mistake should not serve as grounds to eliminate the death penalty, any more than the risk of having a fatal wreck should make automobiles illegal...”. This is stating that like in everything in the legal system, there will be mistakes, but it isn’t common. There is an extra step of precaution used when dealing with the death penalty. Another reason people oppose the death penalty has to deal with race discrimination. People claim that the number of African Americans on death row has to do with racism. Race has nothing to do with the crimes they have committed. No matter what color you are, you should not have the right to live if you have murdered another human. I hope you take what I’ve said into consideration, because it’s a problem that is becoming more apparent in today’s age.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Voter