On Sept. 11, 2001, two passenger airplanes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center.
Nearly 3,000 people died that day.
Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden took responsibility for initiating the attacks. On April 29, 2011, President Obama gave the U.S. Special Forces the order to raid bin Laden’s compound and ?kill him.
It would be a hard task to find someone in the U.S., who does not believe the killing of Osama bin Laden was justified, but there are many who believe that the death penalty is not a justifiable sentence.
It is inscribed in our human nature that when we are ill-treated, we seek ?retribution.
Why is it that so many object to the death penalty, but so few object war?
Ideally, if a person is against the death penalty, they should also object to war.
Naci Mocan is a professor at the University of Colorado; he conducted studies on the effects of the death penalty on crime deterrence.
Mocan found that each time a prisoner is executed, an average of 18 murderers are deterred.
He also found that for every 2.75 years cut from an ?inmate’s time spend on death row, one murder would be prevented.
In order to house one inmate in a federal prison, it costs the government $50,000 per year.
With more than 16 million children in the U.S. living in poverty, surely we could put the money to better use.
Ashley Howell
ashhowel@indiana.edu
