The Death Penalty Should Be Legal Analysis

Within the past century, there have been controversial ideas about capital punishment. “10 reasons The Death Penalty Should Be Legal,” by Dave Anderson, reader and writer, enunciates on rationales behind why capital punishment should be legal. Anderson expounds that it does not go beyond the laws and rights stated in the constitution of the United States and acts as a deterrent to our country. He continues to state that the death penalty is an appropriate retribution, other punishments become a financial encumbrance, judges are impartial, and science eliminates the possibility of mistakes in convictions. While some defendants commit barbaric crimes, the death penalty should be abolished due to its negative nature of the punishment and the questionable

In the article “10 reasons The Death Penalty Should Be legal,” Anderson interprets two separate studies performed in the state of illinois and at the University of Colorado in Denver that analyze whether capital punishment has deterred the rate of homicide. Both studies concluded that 3/18 lives could be saved by the execution of a blameworthy killer. Although, two studies is a very low number in which more research and data collection would be necessary to ensure the accuracy of this information. There is also a number of inconsistencies in studies where statisticians have concluded that the death penalty deters crime. The article “States Without Death Penalty Have Lower Murder Rates,” by Amnesty International, a global movement of people debating the injustices, invalidates the article written by Anderson. Amnesty International claims that “States without the death penalty continue to have significantly lower murder rates than those that retain capital punishment.” A study by a Sociology professor and a graduate student at the University of Colorado-Boulder, in which builds upon the research compassed in 1996, analyzes the viewpoint of criminology experts on the deterrence effects of capital punishment. It was concluded that 88% or 67 out of 73 professionals do not think that the death penalty deters crime. Some experts further expressed their belief through backing it up with practical evidence. For instance, in 2007 the homicide rates in states that have the death penalty exceeds states that have abolished it by 42%. It is concluded that the death penalty is in fact not a deterrent to