Strapped to a large chair, with electrical conductors placed around my head and wrists, I am seconds away from ending my life. I am petrified, the roar of the jury surrounding me as they watch me fall to my doom. It's unfair for me to die like this, even as a criminal. This is a cruel and inhumane punishment system, and I am helpless to prevent my miserable faith. As the man flips the switch, waves of electrical current enter my body, which writhes endlessly in insidious pain. The waves suddenly stop when the switch is pulled back. My head falls forward, chin tilting towards my chest. As I hurtle towards death at the hands of the government, Desmond Tutu's words ring in my head: "To take a life when a life has been lost is vengeance, not justice." The government that is supposed to represent the people has just taken the existence of one of its own and all that remains of me is a corpse, cold and lifeless. The death penalty, commonly known as capital punishment, is not just about my life. Capital punishment is a cruel and merciless method of punishment that the government does not allow me to recover through rehabilitation and return to society. The justice system is not solving any problem by killing me as it has had the same impact on society that I have had. The necessary expenses for the death penalty do nothing but damage the fragile economy we find ourselves in after the recession resumes. Given the large number of problems with this form of punishment, I implore everyone to eliminate capital punishment worldwide and instead punish criminals like me through a method considered humane. As I lie dead, some may reflect on the future in which, If I had the chance to rehabilitate myself, I would have re... middle of paper... a better life without crime. The government would set an example as they will not take the same actions as me, the criminal. There are great savings that could be spent on activities beneficial to society and not spent on a criminal like me. We as people have come so far, but there are parts of the past that we need to erase." Capital punishment is considered inhumane and "it's been quite embarrassing, frankly, that so-called civilized nations like ours think we're barbaric because we still have capital punishment." (deathpenalty.org February 27, 2011). Reginald Wilkinson was a prison warden in Ohio and tells the truth that it is an embarrassment to a nation to continue with capital punishment. Therefore, in final consideration, capital punishment must be abolished and we must move forward as it has become an irreparable problem.