Generally this is OK... But realistically dying is thought of as a teeny bit cheesy by some markers. When I was going through the same process in Year 11 - I drafted my stories a lot and my teacher (who is fucking fantastic might I add) really toned it into a classy story without any death or suicide etc... Yes in principle death is fantastic, dramatic - it shocks the responder etc. However markers will find it much more pleasing to read a work that keeps the drama and richness without using stuff that everyone else seems to also use.
In general a good rule of thumb for nailing creatives is to avoid (As best as possible!) Drugs, suicide, death and expletives.
Drugs - teachers generally don't want to hear about that stuff - expletives same story.
For suicide and death, generally its not that great not only because its cheesy and somewhat unoriginal - its also relatively unrealistic, neither you or I know what it is like to die or face the death penalty. Hence, writing about the death penalty may not be a great idea simply because you just wouldn't know enough about it.
Another good tip is to just to write about what you know, don't venture of into fantasy land just stick to a basic idea that you know about and construct a clever plot that doesn't do anything overly dramatic but maintains a rich plot and sound technique.