The death penalty, a constant source of controversy and divided opinion, is the punishment of death given to criminals who commit severe crimes. As the severity of crimes that attract the death penalty is debatable, so is its correctness and effectiveness. The justice system is based upon punishment for crimes committed with emphasis on the punishment fitting the crime. Countries such as China and Singapore have used it to punish drug traffickers and therefore fuelled debate on how fitting the punishment is in such cases. For all it aims to achieve, the death penalty has well documented weaknesses, not least of which is its brutality and finality, and it is these frailties that lead to the calls for its abolishment. The death penalty is inhumane, wrongly applied and completely unjustifiable irrespective of the crime. Life imprisonment without parole or pardon achieves all that the death penalty seeks to achieve without costing the society its moral standing. The human right to life is sacred and the constitution protects this right. Is it not ironic that the justice system based on the constitution should therefore seek to end life? One in support of the death penalty could argue that when a person takes a life, then they lose their right to life. That argument would be flawed because the justice system would be doing the same thing it is punishing the criminal for. It is also brutal and as Albert Camus claimed, “An execution is not simply death. For there to be an equivalency, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death on him and who, from that moment on, had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not encountered in private l... ... middle of paper ... ...more consistent with the moral values that the society should aim to uphold, revenge not being one of them. Life imprisonment without parole is such a punishment. Works Cited “Capital Punishment Debate”. Capital punishment debate – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.16 December, 2011. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 18 December, 2011 . “Death Penalty Arguments & Internet Resources.” Death Penalty Arguments & Resources. 25 June, 2003. North Carolina Wesleyan College. 18 December, 2011 < http://faculty.ncwc.edu/mstevens/410/410lect26.htm/>. Messerli, Joe. “Should the Death Penalty Be Banned As a Form Of Punishment?”. BalancedPolitics.org – Death Penalty (Pros & Cons, Arguments For and Against, Advantages & Disadvantages). 19 November, 2011. 18 December, 2011 .
Radelet, Michael L. and Borg, Marian J. “The Changing Nature of Death Penalty Debates.” Annual Sociology Review. 2000: 43-57. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 November 2013.
The death penalty has always been a subject of controversy. Some say that it is a barbaric practice that should be done away with while others claim it to be necessary to ensure the safety of modern society. Either way, capital punishment has always remained a grey area in the
Andre, Claire, and Manuel Velasquez. “Capital Punishment.” Our Duty or Our Doom. 12 May 2010. 30 May 2010 .
In this paper I will ask three people four different questions about their views on the death penalty. The first question I asked was “Why do you feel the death penalty is wrong?” Question number two, “Does the death penalty help protect the public and discourage crime?” Question number three, “Do you consider the death penalty cruel and unusual?” The final question, “Is the death penalty economically justifiable and cost effective?”
"Death Penalty (Pros & Cons, Arguments For and Against)." BalancedPolitics.org - Free Balanced, Non-Partisan Discussion of Political & Social Issues for Debate (Pros and Cons - Decision Making Politics). 21 May 2009 .
Radelet, Michael L., and Marian J. Borg. "The Changing Nature Of Death Penalty Debates." Annual Review Of Sociology 26.1 (2000): 43. Business Source Complete. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.
“The Death Penalty: Pro and Con.” Wgbh.org. WGBH Educational Foundation, 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
The death penalty is one of the most controversial topics debated today. Like every controversial topic, there are two sides to it. Each side has valid arguments for what they believe, however, I believe that one side is more right than the other. Some of the arguments that come into play when discussing the death penalty are the following: the cost of having someone on death row, a person has the right to live, whether or not it discourages crime, and possible innocence of the defendant.
Pasquerella, Lynn. “The Death Penalty in the United States.” The Study Circle Resource Center of Topsfield Foundation. July 1991. Topsfield Foundation. 03 Feb 2011. Web.
When someone is legally convicted of a capital crime, it is possible for their punishment to be execution. The Death Penalty has been a controversial topic for many years. Some believe the act of punishing a criminal by execution is completely inhumane, while others believe it is a necessary practice needed to keep our society safe. In this annotated bibliography, there are six articles that each argue on whether or not the death penalty should be illegalized. Some authors argue that the death penalty should be illegal because it does not act as a deterrent, and it negatively effects the victim’s families. Other scholar’s state that the death penalty should stay legalized because there is an overcrowding in prisons and it saves innocent’s lives. Whether or not the death penalty should be
The death penalty has been an inalienable part of human society and its legal system for centuries, regarded as a necessary deterrent to dangerous crimes and a way to liberate the community from dangerous criminals. However, later on this type of punishment came to be regarded as a crime against humanistic ideals by many, and its validity in the legal system has been questioned. Until now, the debate rages on. This resulted in a wide discrepancy of laws on this issue. Some nations, including China, the US, Iran, Belarus, and others preserve the death penalty as an option, while others like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and almost all European nations have abolished capital punishment. Still others keep the norm in their legislation.
What is the definition of death sentence? In simple form, death sentence means a legal process whereby a person who found guilty was taken his life by the state as a punishment for a heavy crime. In the past, capital punishment has been practiced by most societies to punish people who had done serious crime. However, as we enter the 21st century, abolishing death penalty has been the most contestable issue in today’s society. This argumentative issue has been discussed not only in the parliament of the countries, but also in the cafés or restaurants among the citizens. Many of the countries had stopped using the death penalty due to some reasons nowadays. Although there are some people still prefer to execute death penalty for the purpose of declining the crime rates, the supports for implementing capital penalty are slowly and gradually decreasing. According to the research, there are 315 death sentences were executed in 1995 in United States. However, there are just 128 in 2005 and 102 in 2006 ("Abolish the Death Penalty", 2007). Therefore, it is proven that entirely abolishment of death penalty can expected by the society in the future. Capital punishment is the most neglected form of government hypocrisy. This can be seen when government murders people who murder people to show society that murder is wrong and inexcusable. It is really a contradiction in policy in trying their best to reduce or even expect to totally eliminate the crime in their own countries. Thus, our opinion is the capital punishment should be banned by government due to some significant reasons which are the right to life, fairness and cost effectiveness.
Van Den Haag, Earnest, and John Conrad. The Death Penalty: A Debate. New York: Plenum Press, 1997.
Rubin, P. H. (2009). Don't scrap the death penalty. Criminology & Public Policy, 8(4), 853-859.
Cavanagh, Suzanne. “Capital Punishment: A Brief Overview”. CRS Report For Congress 95-505GOV (1995): 4. Sellin, Thorsten. The Penalty of Death. Sage Publishing Co.,1980.