I believe that the capital punishment is an excellent thing that every state should have and use for definite reasons. The penalty must be effective and first-class as well since it’s been in history for a long period of time. The death penalty has varied in kinds of capital punishments throughout history such as burning, drowning, crucifixion, breaking on the will, boiled to death, hanging, gas chambers, firing squads and numerous other forms of execution. The more well known forms of capital punishments that are used today that started in the seventies are death by lethal injection or electrocution. Throughout the years, people have debated over the death penalty regarding if it is an incorrect or correct thing to do, and I do believe it’s a just thing to do. True, the death penalty may be considered wrong sometimes, for instance how it takes an enormous amount of money to use the death penalty on someone because of the precautions the court goes through to make sure that the person that was put on death row is in fact guilty and not in fact innocent. How it costs less for an inmate to be in prison for life with no parole than to be executed. True it may cost more, but why would you want a killer, a rapist or some other form of an insidious offender to live effortlessly with a bed and three course meals, while they had victimized innocent people. Like the example given up above, there are some cons to the death penalty, but the pros are there as well and cannot just be ignored. The death penalties pro side is just as important as the con side because the pro side of the death penalty does help our society in some form or another. Some of those supporting claims for the death penalty can be found as; retribution for the criminal... ... middle of paper ... ...y: should America have capital punishment? : the experts on both sides make their best case. Ed. Hugo Adam Bedau, Paul G. Cassell. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 183-213. Print. 3. ProCon.org. "Founding Fathers on Religion in Government." Top 10 Pros and Cons Should the death penalty be allowed? ProCon.org. 6 Nov. 2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2013. 4. "History of the Death Penalty & Recent Developments." History of the Death Penalty & Recent Developments. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. . 5. "Is the Death Penalty Immoral? - Death Penalty - ProCon.org." ProCon.org Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. . 6. "Costs of the Death Penalty." Death Penalty Information Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. .
Randa, Laura E. “Society’s Final Solution: A History and Discussion of the Death Penalty.” (1997). Rpt.in History of the Death Penalty. Ed. Michael H. Reggio. University Press of America, Inc., 1997. 1-6 Print.
Koch, L.W., Wark, C., Galliher, J.F. (2012). The death of the American death penalty. Lebanon, NH: Northeastern University Press.
Andre, Claire, and Manuel Velasquez. “Capital Punishment.” Our Duty or Our Doom. 12 May 2010. 30 May 2010 .
Van Den Haag, Ernest and John Conrad. The Death Penalty: A Debate. New York: Plenum Press, 1983.
“The Death Penalty: Pro and Con.” Wgbh.org. WGBH Educational Foundation, 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
Lewis, Neil A. “Death Sentences Decline, And Experts Offer Reasons.” The New York Times, Late Edition. New York, New York: Dec. 15, 2006. Print.
The death penalty continues to be an issue of controversy and is an issue that will be debated in the United States for many years to come. According to Hugo A. Bedau, the writer of “The Death Penalty in America”, capital punishment is the lawful infliction of the death penalty. The death penalty has been used since ancient times for a variety of offenses. The Bible says that death should be done to anyone who commits murder, larceny, rapes, and burglary. It appears that public debate on the death penalty has changed over the years and is still changing, but there are still some out there who are for the death penalty and will continue to believe that it’s a good punishment. I always hear a lot of people say “an eye for an eye.” Most people feel strongly that if a criminal took the life of another, their’s should be taken away as well, and I don’t see how the death penalty could deter anyone from committing crimes if your going to do the crime then at that moment your not thinking about being on death role. I don’t think they should be put to death they should just sit in a cell for the rest of their life and think about how they destroy other families. A change in views and attitudes about the death penalty are likely attributed to results from social science research. The changes suggest a gradual movement toward the eventual abolition of capital punishment in America (Radelet and Borg, 2000).
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?
Akers, Ronald, and Michael L. Radelet. "Deterrence and the Death Penalty: The Views of the Experts." Journal of Criminal Lawand Criminology. Fall 1996. 1-16. Online. Infotrac Searchbank. 31 Oct. 1997.
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.
“If we fail to execute murderers, and doing so would in fact have deterred other murders, we have allowed the killing of a bunch of innocent victims. I would much rather risk the former. This, to me, is not a tough call." (McAdams) The death penalty should be legalized in all fifty states, to avert from crime, keep repeat offenders off of the streets, and to reduce taxpayers the cost of keeping those found guilty of heinous crimes in prison low.
Kurtz, John. "Top 10 Pros and Cons - Death Penalty - ProCon.org." Death Penalty ProCon.org. procon.org, 12 July 2014. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. .
Van Den Haag, Earnest, and John Conrad. The Death Penalty: A Debate. New York: Plenum Press, 1997.
Costanzo, Mark. Just Revenge: Costs and Consequences of the Death Penalty. New York: St. Martin's, 2001. Print.
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.