Death Penalty Essay

The controversy between whether criminals who have committed heinous crimes should be charged with the death penalty has been debated worldwide. Putting people to death, judged to have committed certain extremely abhorrent crimes, is a practice that has been around for a long time. However, in the later half of the twentieth century, it has become a controversial issue. As a supporter of the death penalty, I believe that it is essential part of the criminal justice system to deter crime. There are several reasons it should be in effect including: proof that capital punishment does deter crime that would warrant this sentence, retribution for heinous crimes, and the morality of punishing someone who has committed a crime so horrendous.

The use of capital punishment greatly deters citizens from committing nefarious crimes, such as murder (“Justice Is Served with the Death Penalty”). In general, one of the things people fear the most is death; therefore they are less likely to perform heinous actions if they know that death is a punishment for it. Ernest van den Haag, professor at Fordham University, stated, “ …capital punishment is likely to deter more than other punishments because people fear death more than anything else. They fear most, death deliberately inflicted by law and scheduled by the courts….Hence, the threat of the death penalty may deter some murderers who otherwise might not have been deterred. And surely the death penalty is the only penalty that could deter prisoners already serving a life sentence and tempted to kill a guard, or offenders about to be arrested and facing a life sentence.” Ernest’s argument is that capital punishment is the strongest deterrent society has against murder. Isaac Ehrlich cond...

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...e the applicable punishment, which in some cases may be the death penalty.

Capital punishment can be a difficult topic to approach because people tend to have extreme views on it. The death penalty is a benefit to society; it deters potential criminals as well as serves as retribution to criminals, and is in no way immoral. In general, the anti death penalty arguments often do not hold up when examined more thoughtfully. It is important that the nation is united on this issue, rather than having the it divided. The death penalty can be an incredibly advantageous apparatus in sentencing criminals that have committed some of the worst crimes known to society. It is crucial that we begin to pass legislation making capital punishment legal throughout the United States so that justice can be served properly.