Dear Mr. President,

As such a powerful country, the United States is faced with difficult, life changing problems. But, one of the greatest problems we have is allowing the government power to get out of control. In this I mean, the death penalty. Giving a group of people the ability to decide on a person, a human beings life is absolutely absurd.

Yes, there are horrific, disturbing, crimes that occur every single day. But deciding to end that persons life could be considered just as wrong by many Americans. Even in history there have been instances that once the death penalty occurred, the victim was later cleared, with credible evidence, not guilty. Being killed for a crime that they did not even commit.

The people who are proven guilty for a capital crime, using evidence should still not be given the death penalty. There are many reasons for this. First being the family of the criminal. No family deserves to watch their family member sit on death row, and wait in line to die. The thought of that is barbaric. Another reason they should not be sentenced to die is the crazy amount of money that it takes to sustain a criminal on death row. Societies tax money going to person who is sitting waiting to die? A waste of money in such an economy. A final reason is that the person should have to sit in prison for the rest of their life. Make them experience a life where every single day they should have to think about what they did to get them there.

Thank you, Mr. President, for taking the time to read this letter. It is something that I, along with many other people feel strongly about. I hope it is something to consider.

Laura N.