Role of Capital Punishment in Modern Criminal Punishment

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Role of Capital Punishment in Modern Criminal Punishment Capital punishment has continued to be used as the major punishment for convicted felons for a long time now. However, it has been a subject of controversy in recent years and has been seen as an inhuman mode of punishment in the modern era. This is because of the various legal challenges it faces and the methods used in executing the punishment, which include the use of a firing squad, lethal injections and the electric chair among others. However, those supporting capital punishment argue that revenge is the only way justice can be achieved while those against it see it all wrong for the state to take any citizen’s life (Neubauer and Fradella 391). Capital punishment hardly plays any role in reforming or rather reducing murders and other violent cases in the modern world. In fact, most countries in the world have gone ahead and abolished death sentences. This decision to abolish capital punishment may have come due to the issues surrounding this system of criminal punishment, with the morality of the punishment and the methods used to execute it being the main problem. This has led to the query whether capital punishment has any purpose in today’s society. The cost of executing prisoners in prisons has been used as one of the reasons that advocate for the end to capital punishment. For example, data from Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) in the United States shows that it is less costly to confine convicts for life than to execute them. The bulk of the costs are accrued during the trial level. Thus, many argue in support of the life imprisonment as it costs the tax payers less than the life sentences they get. The issue of cost has even led to abolishment of de... ... middle of paper ... ... sentences for homicides should be very severe than the death penalties in use as they do not serve the purpose to which they were made. Therefore, putting into consideration the costs and other legal challenges faced by the capital punishment system, the death penalty lacks any function to the society as a way of reducing homicides and violent cases in our contemporary society. Therefore, it would be true to conclude that capital punishment does not play a significant role in discouraging serious crimes. Further research should be done to come up with other punishment systems that are appropriate for capital offenders. Works Cited Marzilli, Alan. Capital Punishment. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing, 2008. Print. Neubauer, David W., and Henry F. Fradella. America’s Courts and the Criminal Justice System. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print.

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