Beginning of Essay
Capital punishment serves justice to the victims and their families. Taking the life of another individual exempts the taker of that life the right to live. For example, take the case of Stephanie Schmidt, a young woman who was brutally raped and murdered 5 years ....

Middle of Essay
.... citing the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Th 8th Amendment states "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." This was meant to limit the severity of punishment imposed on an offender by judge or jury, but instead it creates a paradox with its usage of the words 'cruel' and 'punishment.' Webster's dictionary defines cruel as "causing, or of a kind to cause pain, distress, etc." Using this definition, one has to wonder how our justice system is suppose to punish criminals at all. Wouldn't every punishment be cruel if we took the criminal's point of view? Obvi ....