Why do we have the death penalty? Is it to teach criminals a lesson or to give us revenge? It is a question I have pondered about for ages, and it has recently been brought back to my attention. Every day on the news I hear about criminals and people going to jail and things of that nature, and then people go and bring up the subject of the death penalty. No matter what people say, it is wrong. If you commit a crime, even a very severe crime, your punishment should not be death. What is that teaching us as human beings? Nothing. All that says is that if you see someone commit a crime, then kill them. If killing is so wrong and only criminals do it, how can police, who are supposed to set an example for citizens, go and kill someone? It completely baffles me, how we humans cannot think any better than that. It's true that we have the most brainpower and are the most intelligent ones on earth. Knowing this, can't we use the 10 percent of brainpower we have to its full extent! and not waste our thoughts on things like death? There are times I wonder, who is smarter? Geese or humans? At least geese don't have the death penalty in their society. Stop the madness. Choose life.