In America, final justice can smell like hot dogs or disinfectant. Whatever the end smell is, the fact that the United States has a death penalty is what sets us apart from the rest of the world.

I hear about how we are comparable to China. I am not a math person but I know that 53 – the number of executions in the U.S. – is a lot smaller than the estimated 7,000-8,000 in China, according to Amnesty International.

First, the death penalty is not state-sponsored killing. If this is the case then going to jail is state-sponsored kidnapping, bail is state-sponsored ransoming, fines are state-sponsored extortion and confiscation is state-sponsored theft.

There is also the timeless tactic of using the “violence does not solve anything” and “two wrongs do not make a right” schools of thought as arguments.

Well, I guess it’s wrong for police to shoot at school shooters since using violence will not stop anything.

Ernest van den Haag has a better everyday thought about this idea: “Would police be allowed to speed to catch speeders since speeding is wrong no matter what?”

Second, executing heinous criminals does prevent crimes.

This may not be true among the rest of the population but executed criminals do not commit any more crimes. This is a proven fact.

Another facet is the idea that the application of the death penalty is supposedly discriminatory or racist in its application.

Even if racism and discrimination were true, then there is only one remedy. We would have to kill more people to even out the numbers.

So people would be sentenced to death based upon how many blacks, whites, Asians and Latinos are on death row.

So now we won’t even look at a case on its merit, instead we would look at if a quota has been filled.

If racism was a true problem in the area of the death penalty, then we should address the problem of racism, not abolish the death penalty.

I will also stipulate that there is the possibility for innocent people to be executed.

Man is imperfect and the institutions that man creates are imperfect as well.

If we were to not execute people because of the fear that they are innocent, then what will become of the rest of our legal system?

The fact of the matter is innocent people die all the time. People die in aspects of business that you benefit from everyday. Somehow, the fact we benefit from it materially is acceptable.

Would you really give up using coal powered electricity because some innocent person died digging that coal?

Instead of the death penalty, we could probably try life sentences.

We would have to live with escapees, parole boards that forget and laws that change.

All of this may seem like acceptable outcomes, but does the fact that these killers could live in your neighborhoods make you feel safe at all?

By killing these predators of society we also protect the innocents in jail.

Surely a man that stole a car does not deserve to be killed by a commited murderer.

Why should guards have to take unnecessary risks guarding extremely dangerous criminals that have nothing better on their minds than killing?

Some of you out there might say, “What would Jesus do?” or “Executions are un-Christian.”

Well, the Son of God thought that, for example, drowning pedophiles and child killers was a good way to cure their problems (Matthew 18:6).

According to Wesley Lowe, Jesus’ whole “cast the first stone” story says that we should apply the law equally and avoid mob rule: it is the job of the law to access punishment. He simply poked holes in the mob’s logic.

While there are many arguments for and against, I believe that I have the best possible justification for the death penalty: equality and respect for differing views.

Simply put, we need to respect killers’ views on the value of life, or, in their cases, the lack thereof.

People treat others as they wish to be treated and I am simply letting them fully express themselves.

Not only that, but we also need to be “green” when the state “clips” people.

We need solar-electric chairs, bio-degradable lethal injections, and organic hemp rope. Together we can make the world a greener and safer place.