Capital Punishment
Capital punishment is a very controversial subject in today’s world. People should think about what will happen to them if they commit a crime, and the consequences that will follow the crime. Society has enough problems to deal with without people committing crimes, Therefore capital punishment is desperately needed.
Above all else, it costs too much of hard working taxpayers’ dollars to send someone to prison. It costs a large amount of money each year to keep a person in prison. Why should we pay that much money for those who willingly inflict pain or harm with no cause or concern? There are about thirty-three hundred people on death row. Fifty to sixty percent of inmates are now executed each year, most after having served ten years on death row (Senna and Sigel 430). The opposition will say the monetary units cannot take the place or be substituted for human life. However, capital punishment is not a moral injustice. Look at what we kill. Lion’s and tigers: cause it’s fun. House fly’s and mosquito’s: cause their pests. Pheasants and quail: cause we’re hungry, and it’s fun. We rarely see a bumper sticker that says "save the roaches". So, at most, this sanctity of life that these anti-capital punishment people try to portray to us is selective. We get to deem which forms of life are sacred, and we get to kill the rest. Is this actually what we’re supposed to believe? If one is to argue that the death penalty is demoralizing to our values, then that person should take a look at our world.
Secondly, society has a right to protect itself. If it is obvious, with extensive and substantial proof, that a person is guilty of voluntary first degree murder, then that person should be sentenced to death. Justice must be served. Placing murderers in prison is not a tough enough punishment. In jail they will have a relatively easy lifestyle, free food and housing, no responsibilities. Furthermore, some will have a possible chance for parole. If they happen to make it back out in the world, who is to say he or she would not kill again? This means additional people had to die before these murderers were sentenced to death. Capital punishment provides the greatest justice for the victim and helps alleviate the pain of the victim’s family and friends (Senna and Siegel 432). Those who are against capital punishment say that vengeance is not...
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...ach year, most after having served ten years on death row (Senna and Sigel 430). The opposition will say the monetary units cannot take the place or be substituted for human life. However, capital punishment is not a moral injustice. Look at what we kill. Lion’s and tigers: cause it’s fun. House fly’s and mosquito’s: cause their pests. Pheasants and quail: cause we’re hungry, and it’s fun. We rarely see a bumper sticker that says "save the roaches". So, at most, this sanctity of life that these anti-capital punishment people try to portray to us is selective. We get to deem which forms of life are sacred, and we get to kill the rest. Is this actually what we’re supposed to believe? If one is to argue that the death penalty is demoralizing to our values, then that person should take a look at our world.
Secondly, society has a right to protect itself. If it is obvious, with extensive and substantial proof, that a person is guilty of voluntary first degree murder, then that person should be sentenced to death. Justice must be served. Placing murderers in prison is not a tough enough punishment. In jail they will have a relatively easy lifestyle, free food and housing, no
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.
“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.
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.
As seen, capital punishment is a barbaric tool used for centuries to punish wrong doers. As society evolves, so does its beliefs. But many stare so long at the past they do not see the future. People must realize that society has come a long way and capital punishment is a step in the wrong direction. Capital punishment must remain in the past and not in the future.
The death penalty, as administered by states based on their individual laws, is considered capital punishment, the purpose of which is to penalize criminals convicted of murder or other heinous crimes (Fabian). The death penalty issue has been the focus of much controversy in recent years, even though capital punishment has been a part of our country's history since the beginning. Crimes in colonial times, such as murder and theft of livestock were dealt with swiftly and decisively ("The Death Penalty..."). Criminals were hanged shortly after their trial, in public executions. This practice was then considered just punishment for those crimes. Recently though, the focus of the death penalty debate has been on moral and legal issues. The murderers of today's society can be assured of a much longer life even after conviction, with the constraints of the appeals process slowing the implementation of their death sentence. In most cases, the appeal process lasts several years, during which time criminals enjoy comfortable lives. They have television, gym facilities, and the leisure time to attend free college-level classes that most American citizens must struggle to afford. Foremost, these murderers have the luxury of time, something their victims ran out of the moment their paths crossed. It is time this country realized the only true justice for these criminals is in the form of the death penalty. The death penalty should be administered for particularly heinous crimes.
The death penalty is a good way to punish someone who has committed murder. The reason is because if they are willing to take a life then they should have their own taken from them as well. On the fox news website there is an article called “Death Penalty Discourages Crime.” In this article, it says “ between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer.” This statistic alone shows we should want to punish all the convicted murderers. We could save a lot of other people’s lives. The only thing that we have to do in order to save all these lives is to just follow through with capital punishment when that person is convicted of first degree murder. The death penalty can do a lot for our society and for families of the victims. We can prevent
Crimes are committed everyday. Many people are caught, while many are not. In the United States of America, when a person kills another person s/he is considered a murderer. The instant that murder takes place all rights should automatically be revoked. Murderers should not be allowed to walk the streets. Once a person has killed there is a good change that it could happen again. Convicted murderers should be given the death penalty and have it carried out at once. The death penalty is a controversial sentence. Not everyone feels the same way, but I believe that, in America, the death penalty for murderers is beneficial to the economy and it's a punishment that fits the crime.
Opponents of this position argue that the death penalty is a necessary evil. One of the top arguments is that you must punish offenders to discourage others from committing similar offenses (Radelet 44). Many people also feel that the victim’s families deserve closure. The prisoners have to pay for their crime and deserve the punishment that they get. Using the death penalty helps deal with the overpopulation in prisons. There are not enough resources or space to house prisoners for life. This statement can be true to a certain point. However, when talking about sacrificing one person’s life for the greater good of society, no man should have the authority to end someone’s life. One of the biggest issues that opponents argue is how much the victims suffer if the killer is not put to death. A murderer not only affects the person they kill, but also the victim’s friends and family’s life. They have to live with the grief of losing a loved one. If the killer is not put to death they could get the feeling that someone is out to get them. They will not be able to rest until the killer is tried and executed. Although this side of the argumen...
Americans have argued over the death penalty since the early days of our country. In the United States only 38 states have capital punishment statutes. As of year ended in 1999, in Texas, the state had executed 496 prisoners since 1930. The laws in the United States have change drastically in regards to capital punishment. An example of this would be the years from 1968 to 1977 due to the nearly 10 year moratorium. During those years, the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment violated the Eight Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. However, this ended in 1976, when the Supreme Court reversed the ruling. They stated that the punishment of sentencing one to death does not perpetually infringe the Constitution. Richard Nixon said, “Contrary to the views of some social theorists, I am convinced that the death penalty can be an effective deterrent against specific crimes.”1 Whether the case be morally, monetarily, or just pure disagreement, citizens have argued the benefits of capital punishment. While we may all want murders off the street, the problem we come to face is that is capital punishment being used for vengeance or as a deterrent.
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.
The use of capital punishment has progressively become problematic since the very first day it was put into practice. There are many great arguments both for and against capital punishment, but in my opinion the benefits of capital punishment outweigh any possible negative aspects. Although capital punishment sounds extreme, sometimes it is necessary when people execute extreme crimes. I would like to argue that in certain situations the use of capital punishment is morally acceptable.
Many who disagree with the death penalty believe it is immoral, discriminates, is very expensive, increases crime, and is only a way to carry out revenge. This, however, is not true. Capital punishment should be legal because it is moral, by not allowing criminals to roam the streets once again. It does not discriminate against those of color or the poor, and is actually less expensive than life imprisonment. The most important reason why the death penalty should be legal is because it deters crime.
Capital punishment goes against almost every religion. Isolated passages of religious scripture have been quoted in support of the death penalty, almost all religious groups in the United States regard executions as immoral. There is no credible evidence that capital punishment deters crime from the streets in America. Scientific studies have consistently failed to demonstrate that executions deter people from committing crime anymore than long prison sentences. Moreover, states without the death penalty have much lower murder rates. Executions are carried out at staggering cost to taxpayer.The funds spent for execution should be used to target the issue of killing and find solutions to help communities unite to demonstrate a more peaceful environment. Recent CNN reported how studies done have found that the death penalty criminal litigation, costs taxpayers far more than seeking life without parole. (CNN, 2015) The states spends millions of dollars to put away death row inmates when the funds could be used to help channel society in tune with how to become more positive and getting help to those who need
Capital punishment is necessary in order for justice to prevail. Capital punishment is the execution of criminals for committing crimes that is in regard as so bad that death is the only acceptable punishment. Capital punishment servers to lower the murder rate, but also has value as a form of retribution. Its fairness is determined by the judicial system. As a form of punishment, it saves money when compared to a life sentence.
Capital punishment is the punishment of death for a crime given by the state. It is used for a variety of crimes such as murder, drug trafficking and treason. Many countries also have the death penalty for sexual crimes such as rape, incest and adultery. The lethal injection, the electric chair, hanging and stoning are all methods of execution used throughout the world. Capital punishment has been around since ancient times; it was used in ancient Rome, and one of the most famous people to be crucified was Jesus Christ. Capital punishment is now illegal in many countries, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, but it is also legal in many other countries such as China and the USA. There is a large debate on whether or not capital punishment should be illegal all over the world as everyone has a different opinion on it. In this essay, I will state arguments for and against the death penalty, as well as my own opinion: capital punishment should be illegal everywhere.