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A speech I wrote a couple of months ago for school, enjoy.

What would you do if someone in your family was convicted of murder, and after months fighting for their freedom in courts, was found guilty, and sentenced to death? Honorable judges, teachers, and fellow students, (Or Gaia people in this case) capital punishment has been around for hundreds of years, but should it continue to happen?
The use of capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, extends at least to the beginning of recorded history and was once used as a general punishment. Popular methods that were used to kill people accused of a crime were stoning, disembowelment, flaying, and sawing. Punishments such as these were designed to inflict as much pain and humiliation as possible before killing the victim. Nowadays, capital punishment is much more humane, with less painful and degrading killing methods. It is only used in the most extreme of cases, and is banned in more than 90 countries, but is that enough?
People who support capital punishment argue that it is vengeance. If a murderer kills someone, the same thing should happen to them. Others say that it helps public safety. A criminal can’t commit crimes if they’re dead, and living criminals will commit fewer crimes, because they do not want to die.
Arguers against the death penalty say that courts can sometimes make mistakes, and innocent people can be given the death penalty. In the U.S., since 1973, at least 121 people have been found innocent after being put on death row. During that time, 982 people were executed, showing that for every 8 people executed, there is one that is innocent, and has been wrongfully convicted. Other arguments say that discrimination has a part in sentencing. In Georgia, over the last decade, prosecutors have been more than twice as likely to seek the death penalty towards victims with light skin opposed to victims with dark skin. Some people against capital punishment also say that it has a brutalizing effect. This means that it sends out a message to the public that it is acceptable to kill in some circumstances. Extensions of this argument also say that because of the brutalizing effect, murders in areas with the death penalty increase.
With all these arguments around, what should we believe? Well, it all depends on your morals. Do you think that capital punishment should be banned everywhere, or that it is necessary to prevent crime? No matter what your choice is, you should support it however you can.