America Should Make the Death Penalty a National Law

Thank you Con, for posting the argument so swiftly. I assume you just misread the directions above, and/or were confused about the directions given. As the negative, you state that you "do not have to provide an alternative to the death penalty...uphold the current system of punishment." I then have a question for Con, which is simply, how do you expect to make a change for the death penalty if you feel it is not your job to do so? My rebuttal of Cons first contention goes on to explain how some points made by Con were wrong and/or not backed up with fact. Con states that victims suffer pain, as well as the executioners. I would like to point out that executioners are not just anyone pulled off the street. Often times, they are guards or former police officers, who have seen their fair share of death. Seen in [1], the executioners need to be deemed capable of the task by the prison's warden. This task isn't just given to anyone. Another point that Con made was the pain endured by the inmate. I would like to pint out no evidence is brought up to make this claim true. His first claim, about the gas chamber, can be disproved in [2] where it states "In 1924, the use of cyanide gas was introduced as Nevada sought a more humane way of executing its inmates. Gee Jon was the first person executed by lethal gas...Today, five states authorize lethal gas as a method of execution, but all have lethal injection as an alternative method...The last use of a gas chamber was on March 3, 1999, when Walter LaGrand, a German national, was executed in Arizona." The Firing squad, another example brought up by Con, is used in two states, only if requested by the victim. [3] Shows how this process is carried out, pain free. Con also fails to state how or what errors could cause a victims death to take longer for the electric chair or hanging. "Lastly, one of the most popular forms of execution is lethal injection, but even this doesn't give the victim the dignity that we assure to animals..." Con stated this, but fails to also show the voters that the victim is under anesthesia, the same drug they use to put patients to sleep during surgeries, before the injection is given. The inmate dies while sleeping, probably the most humane way to allow an inmate to be executed. Con then states that the death penalty is impractical. I have a question for him, and it is as follows. How can the death penalty be impractical? He puts the statistic of 39 wrongly accused victims of the death penalty. While that seems a lot, he fails to put in the time zone, which could range as far back as The American Revolution. Going back to my earlier point about the impracticality, it costs a city around an average of 168,000 per inmate per year, as seen in [4]. How then, is it impractical, to save cities hundreds of thousands per year in taxes? Just two inmate executions would save roughly 336,000 dollars a year, also reducing taxes paid by the American people who work hard for their money, which only goes to inmates who have committed unthinkable acts. Con states in his second contention that a national law harms states rights. This of course, is seen throughout history. Abolishing slavery, Civil Liberties, and Universal Suffrage are only a few examples of these laws. Federalism is defined as "A system of government where the central government holds a majority of the power," seen in [5] The hierarchy system of our government goes to display how the argument provided is not only wrong, but falsified. Prison systems are an Implied Power in the Constitution, which means it is Congress' job to give this power to the Federal Government or the States. The Federal Government, has power over the states, called the Hierarchy of power [6]. Education also falls under the category of an Implied Power. In conclusion, the death penalty does not cause harm to the victims, nor their executors, mentally or physically, will save the states and cities who house them thousands per year, and would be supported by our Constitution, should Congress decide to enact this law. Thank you Con again for accepting the debate, and I would like to point out to voters, I am simply playing the devil's advocate. This is not necessarily a personal opinion of mine, so please do not vote based on beliefs, but vote based on content. Thank You. 1. http://www.reprieve.org.uk... 2. http://deathpenaltycurriculum.org... 3. http://www.livescience.com... 4. http://www.nytimes.com... 5. http://www.thefreedictionary.com... 6. http://govdocs.library.arizona.edu...