<doc.id=1002.a2>
<title> Our right to live </title>
	The capital punishment is a widely discussed subject. In the EU-countries it is repealed, but in many other countries it still exists,in the USA for example. There are many active humanitarian groups that are fighting against the death penalty, Amnesty is only one of them. To sentence anyone to death is actually against the human rights, and that should be acknowledged by the entire world. There are no facts proving that the punishment of death prevents crimes. I think it only gives a false feeling of security, that something has been made about the problem. But one major point is being neglected: the right to live.	The basic right to live is what makes me completely against the death penalty. No person has the right to take another person's life. For me it's as simple as that. A person's right to life is the most fundamental human right. It's an essential value everybody should share. Quite a few people would argue that anyone who has taken another person's life does not deserve to live. Are we any better ourselves if we do the same thing to the murderer then? That would make us killers, even though it would be an act of revenge. It wouldn't even be up to you and me to decide whether the murderer should get the lethal injection or not. A small group of high-ranking people would make the verdict. They have the ability to decide over life. I find that frightening.

	On the other hand I have no problem understanding parents who want to see the person who murdered their child killed. Some crimes are so unbelievably cruel and revolting that you would like to do something about it yourself. I know that if a member of my family became a victim of a brutal felon, I would want that person to get severely punished. As a matter of fact, I would do anything to make the criminal suffer from what he/she has done. I'm sure that I wouldn't even mind seeing that person dead, but not because of a legal action. No laws should be made about people's right to live! A person may deserve to die, but nobody has the right to kill him/her.

	But it is impossible to overlook the fact that more and more people are supporting the capital punishment. It could be a sign of that the society is tired of the widespread criminality. People want to see changes in the legal system. They want the courts to get stricter and the police to deal with the problems in a tougher way. But death penalty is not the solution. As written above, there are no evidence f a connection between the death penalty and lesser crimes being committed. And is it really worth the risk of killing someone who could be innocent? If to be locked away for the rest of their lives doesn't scare people from committing crimes, to threaten with death sentence won't help either.

	I would say that deprivation of liberty is a very hard punishment. A person sentenced to life imprisonment certainly isn't a happy one. Imagine a life completely controlled by others. It's nothing but a living nightmare. Constantly surrounded by inspecting eyes you eat, sleep and go outside at the same time of the day, every day, day after day after day... And add to that the guilt you carry on your shoulders. You have to live the rest of your life knowing that you have ruined several people's lives. Not only your victim's life, but his/her family's aswell. To me that doesn't sound like much of a life. I would say that to be locked away for life is worse than having a needle injected into your arm and slip off into the eternal rest. Then you have to live with what you have done for the remaining part of your life. 

	As a result of the arguments I have put forward I hope to convince at least someone of the non-human in deciding over other people's right to live. It's quite clear that I take a stand against the capital punishment. My main argument is obviously that everybody has the right to live, or in other words, that nobody has the right to kill. To kill someone is a crime, and whether I or the state is the murderer is of no importance.
</doc>