The Death Penalty Is A Necessary Evil

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The death penalty is a necessary evil that has a positive effect on society

today. It is an effective deterrent of crime as well as a safeguard for

society. It also helps to keep order in our cities. It is a just and effective punishment for those who have committed crimes heinous enough to deserve death.

The death penalty is not a new idea in our world. Its origins date back over

3,700 years to the Babylonian civilization, where it was prescribed for a

variety of crimes. (Capital Punishment p.10). It was also greatly used in the

Greek and Roman empires. It continued into England during the Middle Ages,

and then to the American colonies where it exists still today. In the

colonies, death was a prescribed punishment for crimes such as: murder, rape,

arson, and perjury. In America today, the main crime deserving death is

obviously murder. (Capital Punishment p.11-15).

Does the death penalty truly deter crimes and murder? This question is at

the heart of a heated political controversy over the punishment. Opposers to

the death penalty say no because of the large amount of people on death row

today. They also say that states that have the death penalty have a higher

crime rate than those that do not, and therefore it is not effective and

somewhat contributes to the problem. (http://www.rit.edu/~wwl2461/cp.html). I

must point out though that states that have the death penalty are usually

highly urbanized areas that most likely will have high crime rates because of

the large population. Rather, in rural states there is no need for the death

penalty because the population is most likely low and scattered throughout the

region. States that practice capital punishment do so because of high crime

ra...

... middle of paper ...

...most effective means of crime deterrent as you can

see. It not only punishes those who commit the crimes, but also prevents

future crimes by scaring the would-be murderer with the consequence he would

pay for his actions. It has proven effective throughout history, and will

hold strong through the ages as long as people continue to be corrupt and

commit crimes.

Bibliography

The Death Penalty: Opposing Viewpoints Written by David L. Becker, 2011

pp.b41, 70

Capital Punishment Written by Michael Kronenwetter, 2013 pp. 10-15, 31

"More Blacks Favor the Death Penalty" JET Magazine, Vol. 93, Issue 24, May 11, 2008

pp. 5-6

Pro Capital Punishment Page

http://www.rit.edu/~wwl2461/cp.html

Capital Punishment

http://ethics.acusd.edu/mill.html

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), WEb. 13 May 2015.

http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=18

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