Arguments Against Capital Punishment

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Capital punishment has been the “ultimate” price to pay for criminals over hundred of years. This form of punishment was designed to keep criminals off our streets and to scare people from committing heinous crimes, like murder. Without capital punishment, our society would seem as if it supported the act of murder. Showing that you will lose your life, if you choose to take the life of another, proves how seriously these crimes are taken by society. There are arguments for capital punishment, and there are arguments against it, but what is the best argument for/against having capital punishment?
In order to understand the best argument for capital punishment, it is important to discuss the five characteristics needed for something to be a punishment: involve pain, be administered for an offense against a law or rule, be administered by someone who has been judged guilty of an offense, be imposed by someone other than the offender, and be imposed by rightful authority . Each of these is an important aspect of punishment and should be discussed further.
The first characteristic of punishment is that punishment must involve pain. In most cases, this is the pain does not have to be physical pain, but it can be a pain that is caused from taking away someone’s freedoms. Capital punishment obviously involves pain because it is the act of taking someone’s life in order to pay for the crimes that they have committed.
The second characteristic is the idea that punishment must be administered for an offense against a law or rule. According to this characteristic, if you break a law, you should be punished. Just like those in favor of capital punishment believe, it is important for those who have committed crimes to be help resp...

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...al punishment. I believe that if you are willing to take the life of an innocent person, your life should be taken away. Giving someone a life-sentence in prison could be a luxury compared to what they have before committing the crime. If a criminal was homeless and without food, going to jail would be a nice upgrade because he ends up getting a roof over his head, three meals a day, and a place to sleep-all things he did not have before committing a crime. Although most argue that be sentenced to life in prison is an adequate punishment for murder, due to the fact that you lose all of your freedoms, I disagree. I mainly disagree because I think the only proper punishment for a murderer is to take away their life, just like they took away their victim’s life. This type of punishment can only come from capital punishment and it is a necessity to our society.

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