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death penalty violates human rights
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If you are in a rush to attend a very important meeting and you can not find a parking spot, would you risk parking your car in a restricted zone if you knew the fee would only be 25 dollars? Would you reconsider taking the risk of parking your car there if the ticket would be 500 dollars? If the consequences of an action are severe, how many people would take the risk of taking that action? If the penalty to pay for taking other people’s lives was death, would fewer people take the risk of committing such a crime? Life is the most precious possession one holds. When another human brutally robs another of this gift, it is the most heinous of all crimes. It is only justice if the punishment fits the crime committed, and for murder, the only punishment fit is the death penalty, therefore, the capital punishment should be retained in all the States as a means of justice and a clear message for potential criminals out there not to follow. The opposing side who disagrees against the death penalty argues against several factors. One argument against the death penalty is that a man has no right to choose death as a punishment for another. Every human has the gift of life granted from the Creator and to take that away even as a punishment is immoral and no different than murder itself ( Sinclair and Sinclair 20-25). Life is a human right; however, one who does not respect the life of others does not deserve to have this right of living. By murdering and taking another’s life, the murderer has forfeited his own right to live ( Capital Punishment Is a Just Consequence for Those Who Choose Evil 2). With the gift of life, the Creator has also granted His beings with the freewill of choosing between good and evil. It is a man’s right to ... ... middle of paper ... ...“Capital Punishment Maintains Law and Order."At Issue: Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime?. Amy Keyzer. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Web. 18 Nov, 2009. 3. Herivel, Tara and Paul Wright. Prison Profiteers: Who Makes Money From Mass Incarceration. New York: The New Press, 2009. Print. 4.. Rideau, Wilbert. “Why Prisons Don’t Work.” The Bedford Guide for College Writers. Ed. X. J. Kennedy, Dorothy M. Kennedy and Marcia F. Muth. 8th ed.Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Print. 5. Sinclair, Billy Wayne and Jodie Sinclair. Capital punishment: An Indictment by a Death-Row Survivor. New York: Arcade Publishing Inc., 2009. Print. 6. “The death penalty deters crime.” At Issue: Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime?.Tamara L. Roleff. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2000. Opposing Viewpoint Resource Center. Web. 18 Nov, 2009.
Weil, Jack. "The Death Penalty Does Not Deter Crime." The Death Penalty. Ed. Jenny Cromie and Lynn M. Zott. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "The Death Penalty Isn't the Answer to Crime Woes." Star 4 Nov. 2010.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.
Lappin, H. G., & Greene, J. (2006). Are prisons just? In C. Hanrahan (Ed.), Opposing Viewpoints: America’s prisons (pp. 51-98). Detroit: Bonnie Szumski.
Andre, Claire, and Manuel Velasquez. “Capital Punishment.” Our Duty or Our Doom. 12 May 2010. 30 May 2010 .
Harris, H. (2017, March). The Prison Dilemma: Ending America's Incarceration Epidemic. Foreign Affairs, pp. 118-129.
... clearly support the argument against capital punishment. There can be no justification for the taking of any life, no matter what the transgression. By taking that life we, as society, have chosen to become as monstrous as those whose heinous crimes we abhor.
There are many pros to the death penalty. Some claim that there is a preventative effect on potential murderers, although there is a lot of debate about this and just about every other argument for or against capital punishment. Another is the idea of incapacitation. Truthfully, why should someone have the right to live if they have taken that right from another person? The purpose why this writer supports capital punishment is because in observing victims’ families and their grief over murdered loved ones. This writer believes anyone who murders should be put to death. One reason for this is because people should not have the right to live after they have killed a fellow human being. The death penalty is a topic dealing with ethics, a set of moral principles or values. This issue is constantly filled with mix feelings and attitudes which the writer will attempt to present in the following paragraphs.
Capital punishment has as its aim not only the punishment of criminals but also the prevention of similar crimes. Unfortunately, capital punishment does not in fact deter criminal acts, as most supporters of the death penalty expect. Michael Meltsner points out that "capital punishment was justified as a deterrent to crime, yet the killing [has been] done infrequently and in privacy" (3); these factors lead to the ineffectiveness of capital punishment as a deterrent. The infrequent administration of capital punishment stems from the vast differences in each case and the legal variations among the states that permit capital punishment. Currently, t...
Narration: Opponents of the death penalty believe it is an ineffective way to stop crime and that there are better ways to punish crime and keep society safe.
"The Death Penalty Deters Crime and Saves Lives." The Heritage Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.
Eagan, Jeffrey A. “Capital Punishment: Deterrent Effects and Capital Costs.” Law.columbia.edu. Columbia Law School, 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
The death penalty has been part of the American judicial system since the country’s founding [1]. Most people see the death penalty as the fairest way to punish those who have killed, because, in the words of Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, “the instinct for retribution is part of the nature of man.” I do agree that the deliverance of justice is an important factor in any public policy. However, it is also important to consider the more pragmatic aspects, like the cost to the state. It is possible that the financial cost could be outweighed by the societal benefit. However, upon researching the death penalty, one would discover that the cost of capital punishment is unreasonably high, particularly in the state of California, especially when we consider how rarely the death sentence is actually implemented. In times like these, times of economic turmoil and scarce financial resources, the state cannot afford a system that is so expensive and also so rarely utilized. I believe that, in the state of California, the death penalty is overly expensive and so rarely implemented that it should be abolished.
During the 1970s, the top argument in favor of the death penalty was general deterrence. This argument suggests that we must punish offenders to discourage others from committing similar offenses; we punish past offenders to send a message to potential offenders. In a broad sense, the deterrent effect of punishment is thought to b...
Capital punishment, a topic that is constantly debated, is questioned on whether or not it serves its purpose which is to deter criminals and if it is morally acceptable. It is my goal to evaluate arguments that promote or reject capital punishment and its deterrence factor. It would be beneficial comparing crime statistics for states that uphold and states that abolish capital punishment. Finally, an investigation of criminals facing the death penalty and their thoughts as well as modern prison conditions will provide insight to this debate. Capital punishment could be a great deterrent to crime or it may have no effect at all.
Shelden, R. G. (1999). The Prison Industrial Complex. Retrieved November 16, 2013, from www.populist.com: http://www.populist.com/99.11.prison.html
Schonebaum, Stephen E. "A Swifter Death Penalty Would Be An Effective Deterrent." Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime? San Diego: David L. Bender; Greenhaven Press Inc. 1998. 18.