Capital Punishment: Should it be Reinstated in Canada?
Sacred Heart School of Halifax
Halifax, Nova Scotia

By Brett (grade 8)

We must face the facts: each year, the crime rate in our nation rises but what are we going to do about it? How can Canada's criminals pay their debt to society?

Many people across Canada believe that capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the answer. If one of our citizens has taken somebody else's life, shouldn't that person have to sacrifice his/hers? After all, we have heard the saying, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." To some, capital punishment is the perfect solution: it will completely eliminate some of Canada's criminals and, if a person knew these harsh conseqences to a serious crime, such as murder, wouldn't he or she think twice about committing this crime? After all, if the life of one of your loved ones' had been taken, wouldn't you want to see the person responsible pay for what he/she have done.

However, many Canadians feel very differently about this subject. They believe that violence should never be the answer and that the death penalty is too brutal. "Two wrongs do not make a right," as some would say. After all, there has been the rare incident when an innocent person's life was taken by mistake.

I recently conducted a survey of my grade eight class to discover that 59% of my classmates believed that, yes, capital punishment should be reinstated in Canada, while the other 41% said no.

These days, this issue has become very controversial. Who knows, maybe in ten years capital punishment will be reinstated in our country, or maybe our way of dealing with crime will remain the same. Right now, there is no telling where crime in our nation could lead us.