Capital Punishment in America
Capital punishment is the execution of a perpetrator for committing a heinous crime (homicide), and it is a hotly debated topic in our society. The basic issue is whether capital punishment should be allowed as it is today, or abolished in part or in whole. My argument is that:
1) Capital punishment is not an effective deterrent for heinous crimes.
2) Life imprisonment can be worse of a punishment than death, not as
costly as execution, and better for rehabilitation.
3) The innocent can be wrongly put to death.
Conclusion: Capital punishment should be abolished.
Though capital punishment might seem like the only way to get revenge, it is morally unjust. Who are we to decide whether a person should live or die? It is morally wrong, individually or through government action, to seek revenge on a murderer by means of execution. The death penalty violates our right to life.
Capital Punishment is Not an Effective Deterrent
As justification for capital punishment, deterrence is used to suggest that executing murderers will decrease the homicide rate by causing other potential murderers not to commit murder from fear of being executed themselves and obviously the murderer who is executed will not kill again. This position may seem initially correct, and indeed, in a USA Today Poll, 68% of respondents agreed that the death penalty is an effective deterrence for crimes. However, some research suggests that rather than deterring homicide, state executions actually may cause an increase in the number of homicides (Stack, 1990). This phenomenon has been called the "brutalization hypothesis" and it suggests that through proposition, modeling, or by legitimizing killing, the death penalty actually causes an increase in homicides. Thus, the brutalization hypothesis is a reason for opposing the death penalty.
On the other hand, a study prepared for the UN in 1988 showed that abolishing the death penalty shows no significant change in the number of crimes committed. Since Canada’s abolishing of the death penalty in 1975, homicide rate actually decreased 27 percent (up to 1993).
Life Imprisonment
Life imprisonment can be worse of a punishment than death for many convicted murderers. Instead of an easy out, these people will have to live out their lives without many of the freedoms and rights you and I ta...
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... Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which has now been ratified by 33 European countries; Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty, which has been ratified by six countries in the Americas and signed by two others. Protocol No. 6 is meant only to abolish the peace penalty in peacetime. The other two are meant for total abolishment.
Sixty-eight prisoners were executed in the United States in 1998, bring the total for an even five hundred since the death penalty was resumed in 1977. Over 3500 prisoners were under the sentence of death as off April 1, 1999. Thirty-eight of the fifty US states now provide for the death penalty law. The death penalty is also provided under the US military and civilian law.
Hopefully I’ve made the point that the death penalty is useless except for delivering some sort of closure to a victims’ loved ones, through this type of closure is morally wrong, and can be achieved through life imprisonment of the murderer. And because capital punishment is not an effective deterrent, because life imprisonment is a better option, and because the innocent wouldn’t have to die; capital punishment should be abolished.
Radelet, Michael L., and Traci L. Lacock. "Do Executions Lower Homicide Rates?: The Views of Leading Criminologists." Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 99.2 (2009): 489-508. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 28 Feb. 2011.
Last year alone, over five hundred and fifty people were murdered in Canada. The criminals were sentenced to serve twenty-five years imprisoned for the life/lives that they thieved. Imagine, waking up to discover the dread of your loved one, dead. Imagine the blow to your stomach, the pain and agony, and the hollowness of your throat. Imagine discovering that the assassin that killed your loved one was only to serve twenty-five years for taking a life. Imagine knowing your tax money went to assist the criminal in jail, instead of helping towards the park your loved one used to adore. Imagine watching more criminals commit crimes because the punishment isn't very severe. Imagine protecting yourself from your community because of are potential attackers. Without the death penalty, you won’t have to imagine. These thoughts will eventually become a reality. I think that the death penalty is an effective and compelling manner to settle murder and homicide because it threatens criminals, it provides a safer environment for communities, and the death penalty saves a lot of money for the government.
...ure or be used as a means for revenge. The death penalty is a severe penalty for a sever crime. I feel that it does work as a deterrent for crime because of its severity over any prison term. Capital punishment is necessary for a stable society and should not be abolished.
From 1977 to 2009 1,188 people have been killed by death penalty. America is trying to get rid of capital punishment. Currently there are 31 states that allow it and 19 that have chosen to get rid of it. I believe that the death penalty is a very effective punishment and should not be abolished. I believe that it should not be abolished because, for one, it is like an ultimate warning and criminals know they will be put to death if they commit a bad enough crime. Also death is often the only punishment criminals fear. Next, it provides a sense of closure for the victims. Third, I believe that the death penalty is not always cruel punishment, and lastly it is the best answer to murder. K. I. V. A. J. T. V. J. I. Q. T. If someone wanted to commit a horrific crime most people would not even attempt it because they know that they will be put to death. Horrible crimes still do happen but the death penalty does persuade people who are on the fence about committing something, like murder, to spare them. If there was not a death penalty criminals would not be as
Capital punishment is not a morally acceptable practice because the process has come to represent a form of torture in our modern society and therefore, should not be seen as an acceptable form of punishment for any criminal act. The goal of a punishment is to properly reprimand the criminal so justice is served in regard to the victim. This can be achieved without violating our moral standards through the use of punishments which sufficiently punish the offender while still doing right by the victim. Capital punishment may be the most just option of retribution when punishing a murderer, but it serves as an injustice to the persons who must carry out the duty and has also become a torturous experience for the offender.
Many people are led to believe that the death penalty doesn’t occur very often and that very few people are actually killed, but in reality, it’s quite the opposite. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1,359 people have been executed as a result of being on death row since 1977 to 2013. Even though this form of punishment is extremely controversial, due to the fact that someone’s life is at stake, it somehow still stands to this very day as our ultimate form of punishment. Although capital punishment puts murderers to death, it should be abolished because killing someone who murdered another, does not and will not make the situation any better in addition to costing tax payers millions of dollars.
Death penalty opponents feel that the death penalty actually leads to an increase in crime because the death penalty desensitizes people to violence, and it sends the message that violence is a suitable way to resolve conflicts. Death penalty opponents also condemn the death penalty because of the possibility of an innocent person being put to death, and because it can be unfairly applied. Death penalty opponents feel that the death penalty must be abolished because it cheapens the value of human life. The death penalty desensitizes people to murder and violence because, by executing people, the state sends the message that violence is an acceptable means of resolving conflicts (Terrill). The death penalty also reduces the gravity of the loss of human life by making it legal for the state to kill people it deems to be beyond reform (Winters 57). Death penalty oppo...
... execute should not be made lightly, and tests should be done to ensure the right person is being punished for the crime that was committed. Taking away the person’s life who is responsible for the death of another person cannot bring the victim back and does not solve anything. Various people all over the world believe that the death penalty should not be supported and that it should be abolished. Many reasons exist for the abolition of the death penalty to take place including cost issues, religious issues, whether or not it acts as a deterrent, executing innocents and the harshness of the execution. Some may say the people who committed the most heinous crimes deserve to have justice served to them. However, even murderers are humans and should be treated fairly and justly. All people, even the guilty have a right to live; regardless of the crimes they committed.
Since 1976 there have been 1,434 executions in the United States, and additionally of those executions since 1973, 156 of those on death row were exonerated (Facts About the Death Penalty, 2016). In 2012 the National Research Council released a report titled Deterrence and the Death Penalty, citing that studies claiming there was a correlation with the death penalty and lower homicide rates. However this is not true, the death penalty has no effect on crime especially homicide rates. Additionally it is negligent of policy makers to rely on such reasoning in determining the continued validity of the death penalty for a wide variety of capital crimes.
One of society’s main questions today is how can we lower the rates of these heinous crimes in our country. The answer is giving them the highest consequence for their crime: death. Although people have argued that issuing the death penalty does not deter crime, there is a significant amount of evidence to prove it HAS lowered crimes such as murder.
In my opinion capital punishment is wrong. The death penalty is the center of much debate in society. This is due, in part, to the fact that people see only the act of killing a criminal, and not the social effects the death penalty has on society as a whole. Upon reading about the death penalty, it was found to be an unethical practice. It promotes a violent and inhumane society in which killing is considered okay. Since there are alternatives, the death penalty should be abolished. Some people believe capital punishment to be cruel and unusual. Others believe that a person who kills, should themselves be killed. This statement alone raises the question, "How should they be killed?" The question that should really be asked is, "Should we kill at all?" Would it be morally correct to kill someone just because they have killed someone else?
Some argue that a life sentence to prison isn’t enough for the most heinous of crimes,
Does just one murder justify another murder as long as it is done in the name of justice? It is not justice if it is taking a life to show that the crime is wrong. The death penalty causes much pain for everyone attached to it in anyway. It rips apart families hoping for a better life and it tears down hope for the innocent inmates on death row. If the inmates know they will die. they can give up on anything and anyone. The death penalty is cruel to the inmates and not helpful to the inmates families most ways. The death penalty should be abolished because it puts the U.S in financial stress, kills many innocent people, is a slow and painful process for the inmate and their families, and shows much racial bias throughout it.
The death penalty has always been and continues to be a very controversial issue. People on both sides of the issue argue endlessly to gain further support for their movements. While opponents of capital punishment are quick to point out that the United States remains one of the few Western countries that continue to support the death penalty, Americans are also more likely to encounter violent crime than citizens of other countries (Brownlee 31). Justice mandates that criminals receive what they deserve. The punishment must fit the crime. If a burglar deserves imprisonment, then a murderer deserves death (Winters 168). The death penalty is necessary and the only punishment suitable for those convicted of capital offenses. Seventy-five percent of Americans support the death penalty, according to Turner, because it provides a deterrent to some would-be murderers and it also provides for moral and legal justice (83). "Deterrence is a theory: It asks what the effects are of a punishment (does it reduce the crime rate?) and makes testable predictions (punishment reduces the crime rate compared to what it would be without the credible threat of punishment)", (Van Den Haag 29). The deterrent effect of any punishment depends on how quickly the punishment is applied (Workshop 16). Executions are so rare and delayed for so long in comparison th the number of capitol offenses committed that statistical correlations cannot be expected (Winters 104). The number of potential murders that are deterred by the threat of a death penalty may never be known, just as it may never be known how many lives are saved with it. However, it is known that the death penalty does definitely deter those who are executed. Life in prison without the possibility of parole is the alternative to execution presented by those that consider words to be equal to reality. Nothing prevents the people sentenced in this way from being paroled under later laws or later court rulings. Furthermore, nothing prevents them from escaping or killing again while in prison. After all, if they have already received the maximum sentence available, they have nothing to lose. For example, in 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court banished the death penalty. Like other states, Texas commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment. After being r...
The death penalty has been an ongoing debate for many years. Each side of the issue presents valid arguments to explain why someone should be either for or against the subject. One side of the argument says deterrence, the other side says there’s a likelihood of putting to death an innocent man; one says justice, retribution, and punishment; the other side says execution is murder itself. Crime is an unmistakable part of our society, and it is safe to say that everyone would concur that something must be done about it. The majority of people know the risk of crime to their lives, but the subject lies in the techniques and actions in which it should be dealt with. As the past tells us, capital punishment, whose meaning is “the use of death as a legally sanctioned punishment,” is a suitable and proficient means of deterring crime. Today, the death penalty resides as an effective method of punishment for murder and other atrocious crimes.