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Agree: The Death Penalty Does Thesis

The phrase has become a Republican Party platform issue and one used to galvanize citizens, one that signals the righteous intolerance of criminals but is a thinly cloaked measure for social control. Of course, Americans should hope for a society that is as crime-free as possible, one that does not restrict the right of citizens to possess a weapon while at the same time prohibiting criminals from doing the same. Tough on crime laws and mandatory prison sentences are not viable means of reducing gun-related crimes, though. The way that "tough on crime" laws are phrased garners attention and votes. Voters have a hard time turning anti-gun laws down, but for the wrong reasons. The tough on crime laws fail to address the root causes of the problem: poverty and social injustice. Mandatory sentences will not reduce gun-related crimes. The decriminalization of

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black market of drugs would take power away from criminal organizations that sell guns too.
Furthermore, the true policies that result from "tough on crime" rhetoric are unsavory and un-American. To be tough on crime entails supporting laws like "three strikes" that penalize minor non-violent drug offenders, not necessarily murderers. The victims of gun-related crimes are often people of color: Latino and African-Americans. Impoverished regions of America are besieged by gun-related violence, because guns and related black market commodities are more lucrative than any low-wage job. Gun-related crimes are sometimes connected with drugs, but mandatory prison sentences are a poor, ineffectual, and inhuman means of dealing with preventable crimes in America.

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