Are we playing God? Have we completely forgotten humanity? When I think of the death penalty, I am reminded of Jesus and when he confronted the people who were gathering to stone a woman who had been caught committing the crime by saying, "If one of you has never sin, so go ahead and throw the first stone at him. .” (John 8:7) This action clearly demonstrates that Jesus believed there was a problem with imposing the death penalty because no one is without sin. Jesus did not say that adultery should not be a crime punishable by death, but he did point out the problem with imposing such a penalty. These valuable lessons on human rights have been completely ignored by American society. Over the past decade, more than 500 prisoners have been executed in the United States. Another 3,500 people are waiting on death row. The United States is one of the few industrialized countries in the world that executes criminals. It is one of the few countries in the world that has executed mentally ill people, people with very low IQs, and child murderers (i.e. people who were under 18 at the time of their crime). How can a first world country that embraces Christianity, as its primary religion, also embrace the death penalty? The death penalty is an archaic and barbaric form of punishment whose existence should disappear from all legal systems of civilized societies. Let us set the tone and protect the right to life against such an inhuman or degrading act. In the United States, approximately 13,000 people have been legally executed since colonial times. In the 1930s, up to 150 people were executed each year. Lack of public support for capital punishment and legal challenges reduced the execution rate to near zero by 1967. In 1972, the United States Supreme Court banned the practice, but in 1976 the Supreme Court authorized its resumption. Each state decided whether or not to impose the death penalty. At the end of 1997, only 12 states did not have the death penalty; Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Between 1976, when executions resumed, and the end of 1997, there were 432 executions in the United States. At the end of 1997, there were approximately 3,222 prisoners on death row in 34 states. 47 (1.5%) are women. Recent laws have increased the number of crimes for which the death penalty can be applied. Other laws have reduced some of...... middle of paper ...... which would trump human rights, and furthermore, the death penalty contradicts the internationally accepted goal rehabilitation of the offender. I think it is more important for the person sentenced to death to pay it for the rest of his life. By eliminating a person through the death penalty, people will forget that person and the act he or she committed, which would not serve the deterrent purpose of punishment. By allowing those convicted of capital crimes to live to reform and work toward reparation for their crime, it is far more meaningful and effective to deter others from committing similar crimes. Stop playing God. Stop violating basic human rights. Let's end one of the degrading chapters of our society and prove to the world how civil we really are. .org/“The annual report” http://www.amnestyusa.org/ailib/aireport/ar99/amr51.htmDeath Penalty Links “Human Rights Death Penalty” http://www.derechos.org/dp/Sandoholzer, Kuno Pages on the death penalty in the United States http://www.agitator.com/dp/