Capital Punishment

905 Words2 Pages

Capital Punishment

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?

In 1972, capital punishment (in any form) was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States. The decision was reversed in 1976, when new methods of execution were introduced. These new methods included death by lethal injection. Does this mean that it is okay to kill as long as we use a method that is not considered cruel or unusual by society? The death penalty is considered the harshest form of punishment enforced today. Once a jury has convicted a criminal, they go to the second part of the trial, the punishment phase. If the jury recommends the death penalty and the judge agrees that this punishment is deserving of the crime, the criminal will face some form of execution. Contrary to popular belief, the electric chair is not the most common way of executing somebody. Death by lethal injection accounts for the majority of the executions toda...

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...he right person is being sentenced to their death, unless a confession is presented. Even if a confession is presented, it is not morally right to kill another person because they have once killed. This is not to say that I am totally against killing in society. If one must kill another person in order to protect him/herself, then I feel that killing in self-defense is justified. Killing a criminal because someone decided that they "deserve to die" is not justified. If a criminal is convicted of murder (and would normally be sentenced to death), I believe that they should be locked up in prison for the rest of their natural life. Killing a criminal will only create more violence in

society. With more violence comes more crime, which leads to more criminal convictions, and the whole process repeats itself. The death penalty is unethical and should be abolished.

Capital Punishment
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“This is not a nice man … innocent is not a word that suits him in any way,” says Brian Webster when speaking of Matthew Poncelet, the man on death row in the movie Dead Man Walking. Many people feel that the death penalty is immoral and it should not be used; however I feel completely opposite. I believe that capital punishment is a fair sentence for a murderer to receive. In the movie Dead Man Walking, the main character Matthew Poncelet, is on death row waiting for the lethal injection that will soon put him to death for good.
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Murder, a common occurrence in American society, is thought of as a horrible, reprehensible atrocity. Why then, is it thought of differently when the state government arranges and executes a human being, the very definition of premeditated murder? Capital punishment has been reviewed and studied for many years, exposing several inequities and weaknesses, showing the need for the death penalty to be abolished.
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Capital Punishment Should Not Be Instituted
1345 Words | 3 Pages
Since 1967, a total of 1392 executions have occurred in the United States ("Executions by Year"). What a shocking amount! This staggering number creates questioning on the topic of capital punishment. Is the death penalty really constitutional? Research and study over the topic leads to the conclusion that capital punishment should not be instituted in the United States for various reasons. The death penalty is immoral, unconstitutional, and inaccurate due to human errors.
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Since the beginning of modern law, capital punishment has been present in our world. Ranging from the guillotine to lethal injection, over time people have discovered more “humane” ways to execute a convicted criminal. Opinions on the subject may vary depending on certain situations, such as the victim being a family member or close friend. Although there are solid pro-arguments for the death penalty I believe there is enough evidence that implies it should not be legal in any way, shape or form.
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Capital Punishment
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Many positions can be defended when debating the issue of capital punishment. In Jonathan Glover's essay "Executions," he maintains that there are three views that a person may have in regard to capital punishment: the retributivist, the absolutist, and the utilitarian. Although Glover recognizes that both statistical and intuitive evidence cannot validate the benefits of capital punishment, he can be considered a utilitarian because he believes that social usefulness is the only way to justify it. Martin Perlmutter on the other hand, maintains the retributivist view of capital punishment, which states that a murderer deserves to be punished because of a conscious decision to break the law with knowledge of the consequences. He even goes as far to claim that just as a winner of a contest has a right to a prize, a murderer has a right to be executed. Despite the fact that retributivism is not a position that I maintain, I agree with Perlmutter in his claim that social utility cannot be used to settle the debate about capital punishment. At the same time, I do not believe that retributivism justifies the death penalty either.
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Capital Punishment
900 Words | 2 Pages
People often get caught up in the idea of capital punishment and what it means to others. For some individuals, it is a good feeling to see others suffer for their crimes. Meanwhile, others view the consequences as quite horrendous. I believe if an individual commits a serious crime, he or she should prepare to suffer the consequences. So strong is the desire to make others suffer for their crimes, we loose sight of what is right and wrong.
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The Death Penalty is Cruel and Unusual Punishment
1325 Words | 3 Pages
The death penalty ?cruel and unusual punishment.? At one time in history around six hundred people were executed, and in those six-hundred eighty of them were innocent but still executed (Thomas 2). Many people say that the death penalty is lawful. They think that if the punishment is carried out by the government and not by one person it is fine, and it is not cruel and unusual punishment (Carmical 2). Yes, the men who constructed the constitution supported the death penalty, but times have changed and so has the constitution. The constitution should abolish the death penalty (Carmical 5).
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1177 Words | 3 Pages
I believe that capital punishment is necessary to ensure justice. Certain criminals commit crimes so great that they warrant death. The emotional tolls of the people around the victim can be alleviated by the death of the perpetrator. Prisons are inherently difficult to run, and capital punishment reduces the efforts that must be expended to successfully manage a prison. Capital punishment reduces crime in the way that it offers an incentive great enough to prevent offenses such as mass murder. Capital punishment holds much support in its favor, and I believe that it should remain.
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In Support of Capital Punishment
483 Words | 1 Pages
Recent executions have drawn a great deal of publicity to the subject of whether death by electrocution is "cruel and unusual". Cases such as that of Pedro Medina, whose mask caught on fire during the procedure, and Jesse Tafero, whose head caught on fire, provide examples of punishments gone wrong, and therefore punishments possibly being cruel and unusual. At this moment, all executions in Florida are on hold as the Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether or not the electric chair is cruel and unusual. However, there are just a few examples of botched cases, concentrated in Florida. Other evidence provided by those opposing the use of electrocution as a form of the death penalty is the fact that the 2,000 volts of electricity cause every muscle in the body to contract, something that should be very painful. However, even withstanding this argument, I believe that capital punishment in any form allowed by the U.S. Constitution at this moment is justified.
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Capital Punishment Essay - Benefits of the Death Penalty
1419 Words | 3 Pages
The death penalty has been around since the time of Jesus Christ. Executions have been recorded from the 1600s to present times. From about 1620, the executions by year increased in the US. It has been a steady increase up until the 1930s; later the death penalty dropped to zero in the 1970s and then again rose steadily. US citizens said that the death penalty was unconstitutional because it was believed that it was "cruel and unusual" punishment (Amnesty International). In the 1970s, the executions by year dropped between zero and one then started to rise again in the 1980s. In the year 2000, there were nearly one hundred executions in the US (News Batch). On June 29, 1972, the death penalty was suspended because the existing laws were no longer convincing. However, four years after this occurred, several cases came about in Georgia, Florida, and Texas where lawyers wanted the death penalty. This set new laws in these states and later the Supreme Court decided that the death penalty was constitutional under the Eighth Amendment (Amnesty International).
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For the Greater Good
608 Words | 2 Pages
In practice capital punishment is flawed in a multitude of ways and should not be practiced, but in principle capital punishment is ethical and can be a legitimate sentence. Capital punishment can be supported when the crime committed is extremely horrendous and when the individual under question who has committed a serious crime cannot be rehabilitated. As a rule of thumb rehabilitation should be the first goal, but if that goal cannot be completed the individual is a threat to society and capital punishment can be justified. There are few exceptions to the rule above. There are certain crimes that are so horrendous that the individual deserves capital punishment regardless of their capacity for rehabilitation.
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Capital Punishment
983 Words | 2 Pages
The death penalty has been around for centuries. It dates back to when Hammurabi had his laws codified; it was “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. Capital punishment in America started when spies were caught, put on trial and hung. In the past and still today people argue that, the death penalty is cruel, unusual punishment and should be illegal. Yet many people argue that it is in fact justifiable and it is not cruel and unusual. Capital punishment is not cruel and unusual; the death penalty is fair and there is evidence that the death penalty deters crime.
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Pros and Cons of Death Penalty
623 Words | 2 Pages
Some even claim that it is cruel and unusual punishment. I would like to shed light on the issue and inform everyone as to why we should keep the death penalty and possibly even use it more than we do now. First of all, it is hard for anyone to argue that we already use the death penalty too much because facts say that we hardly use it at all. Since 1967, there has been one execution for every 1,600 murders. There have been approximately 560,000 murders and 358 executions between 1967 and 1996(UCR and BJS).
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Catholic Views On Capital Punishment
467 Words | 1 Pages
The death penalty; is it ok for the deserving criminal or should it be outlawed completely? In today’s society, the view of capital punishment varies from country to country; where countries in the commonwealth are against it while in the USA and some Southern Asian countries it is still used to this day. There are many for and against arguments for this topic, which includes the person has done the crime to deserve it, it will stop sick people form re entering the community, all life is sacred in the eyes of the church and it doesn’t allow the criminal to redeem and rehabilitate themselves in the prison system.
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Capital Punishment Is Wrong
916 Words | 2 Pages
I think capital punishment is wrong. However, on the other-hand some people think it’s a right choice. I think it is wrong because everyone deserves to be forgiven no matter how bad their mistake was, as long as they’ve been punished and proven that they think their action was wrong and that they want to move forward and start again, then I think they should have the right to do so.
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Capital Punishment