For my 3rd quarter novel project, I decided to read the "Martian Chronicles". The Martian Chronicles takes place in an alternate time line in which the Earth is in a Nuclear World War. Written in a journal like manner, Bradbury documents the several voyages to the dystopian Martian homeland, and the migration of people (Mainly Americans) to Mars.

During a scene in the novel, a squad of humans arrives at Mars, only to find that all the Martians have the ability to create illusions, causing the Martians to believe the humans are just nut cases. After being diagnosed as incurable of their insanity, they are executed. This led me to ask the question; How is it immoral to execute prisoners who have committed heinous crimes?

During my research, I came across the cite; American Civil Liberties: and viewed their article: "Capital Punishment". I was astounded by all the information and clear flaws surrounding Capital Punishment.

The first clear problem with Capital Punishment is the way, it's carried out. As stated in the article, "There is no method of killing a human being that is consistent with our constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment." Even lethal injections have their flaws. There is no guarantee that the method used to kill the person is painless. There have been multiple instances in which prisoners on death row, went through extreme pain during lethal injection. Therefore, there is no such thing as "humane capital punishment"

The other problem with capital punishment is the chance of executing someone innocent. "Research suggests that Research suggests that...one in every 25 defendants sentenced to death is likely innocent." If we eliminate 24 evil men at the cost of 1 innocent life, it just isn't worth it. To take the chance in killing in innocent would defeat the purpose in killing the guilty. Why take, the risk, when we can instead sentence these people to lifetime in prison without chance of parole?!

Lastly, execution of the mentally ill is flat out unjust. The article states "A civilized society forfeits its moral authority by executing people with mental or intellectual disabilities." By executing someone who is incapable of making cognitive decisions on their own, would be the equivalent of executing a baby because they played with a gun and killed someone. If someone is unaware of the morality of their actions, or the consequences of their actions, then they should't be punished like someone who is. Rather, these mentally ill should be receiving medical help and treatment.