The Death Penalty

In 1972 the US Supreme Court ruled that the federal and state death penalty laws were "arbitrary and capricious" and they constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.  Historically there has always been problems with the use of the death penalty.  For example, you are more likely to be executed if you are a black person and killed a white person. There is always the possibility that innocent people are executed, however I do believe that the death penalty should not be abolished because there are people out there that deserve to be killed like murderers,rapists, and child molesters.  It is sad that these kind of people get a life sentence while innocent people get executed.  There needs to be a change in this system so that innocent people don't die.

      Executions started again in 1977 and as of 2011, 1271 inmates have been executed in the U.S, according to Death Penalty Information Center.  The Death Penalty Information Center has some disturbing facts that question several of the pro death penalty advocates main beliefs.  " Since  1973, over 130 people have been released from death row with evidence of their innocence".  I find it disturbing that many people spent years on death row only to find out that years latter that they were released.  Another pro-death penalty belief is that the death penalty is a deterrence to crime.  However the facts don't seem to prove this idea. "The 2010  FBI Uniform Crime Report showed that the South had the highest murder rate.  The South accounts for over 80%  of executions.  The Northeast, which has less  than 1% of all executions, tied with the West for the lowest murder rate".  These facts make me concerned whether the Death Penalty can ever be fair.

     From my research I found out that rapists and child molesters are exempt from the death penalty.  I was surprised and it made me question my ideas about punishment.  I had a neighbour whose twenty-six year-old son was murdered over a argument about a girl.  She's a very religious person and she and her family have not sought vengeance.  I hope that there are more people like her who do not want to have vengeance for their family member.



   Facts:
 All of the facts were from deathpeanaltyinfo.org
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/FactSheet.pdf
                             

Climate Change isn't a big issue for Americans

  Our planet may be getting warmer and the weather becoming more extreme but it seems that the issue of climate change is not a big concern to many Americans at this time.  According to a gallup.com poll in 2008 global warming was second to last among concerns of American voters, while the economy was first.  While I agree that it's a big issue  it is not something I feel that I can do much about.  Maybe that's what other Americans are feeling too.

       There are people out there that strongly believe that the science behind climate change is flawed and not credible.  Repbulican presidential candidate Rick Perry told his voters that "I don't believe man-made global warming is settled in science enough."  There is a website called gloabalwarminghoax.com which carries many articles and news stories that global warming isn't real.  Bryan Walsh for Time Magazine said "That's deeply troubling. It's one thing when people disagree on the effectiveness of different approaches to fix a problem; it's worse when they refuse even to believe that a problem exists."

     Americans are dealing with an economic crisis right now and they don't have time right now to think about what they can do to save the planet.  They are worrying about jobs, taxes and if they can keep a roof under their head.  The government would have to take a leading role to start these issues of climate change so that Americans would be more focused on it.
  
 Facts: 
1.A gallup.com poll was done in 2008.
2.Globalwarminghoax.com is a website that doesn't believe in global warming.
3. Bryan Walsh is a writer for Time Magazine.