Capital Pusnishment: Crime, Spionange and Treason

1188 people have been executed in the United States between the years of 1977 and 2009.[1] Most death penalty cases involve the execution of murders.[2] However, capital punishment can be applied to other crimes such as espionage and treason.[3]

When it comes to the death penalty there are many opinions as to why this form of punishment is a good thing. Those opinions include things such as:

• The death penalty is the ultimate warning toward would-be criminals.[4] If a potential criminal knows that the punishment for their actions is going to be death, then fewer criminals will commit the crimes.

• The death penalty provides the victim’s families closure.[5] While the victim themselves are not alive to gain any closure from the situation, the execution of the perpetrator does bring a feeling of relief at no longer having to think about the ordeal.

• The death penalty is the only thing that these criminals fear.[6] Murderers have exhausted all options of appeals in order to prevent being executed themselves.

• The death penalty is not cruel.[7] Forms of execution that are utilized are methods where the brain does not have a chance to feel pain.

• The death penalty is the best answer for murder.[8] Our justice system attempts to have the punishments fit the crime. In the instance of homicide, why should the perpetrator be given the same punishment as the offender in a serious non-violent offence?

Each of these arguments are great reasons for continuing with the death penalty as a punishment. However for every argument supporting the death penalty there is an equally strong argument for reasons to abolish this punishment and they include:

• The death penalty teaches the criminals nothing.[9] How can we teach a person to learn fr...

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...ence of their action in either getting burned themselves or seeing a friend get burned or watching as something was caught on fire. I feel that the same type of logic needs to be applied to the death penalty, I think by making more of an example of the ones that are convicted of premeditated murder and where the death penalty is imposed then the consequence needs to be followed through. People sit on death row sometimes for years and years, now the death penalty is just a threat. For example, if I chose to plot and commit a murder I might be sentenced to death, but even with concrete evidence against me, I could sit on death row for the remainder of my life anyway. While that may effectively deter many people from committing the crime, it does not deter everyone. I think that if we followed through with the punishment more, we would then have a greater deterrent.