The death penalty is not the most effective form of punishment for criminals. The death penalty is hypocritical; it condemns killing by killing people. Many supporters of capital punishment cite retribution as being a justification for the death penalty; however, no matter what the circumstance, murder is never justified. Ghandi once said “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Two wrongs can never make a right. Capital punishment should be abolished because while even though many supporters of the death penalty claim that it prevents crime, there is no evidence that it has been proven to do so. Also, many people support the death penalty because it prevents criminals from ever being allowed back on the streets to commit further crimes. The death penalty is a preferred method of punishment because it is permanent; however, it should be avoided because it is permanent. There is too much of a possibility that an innocent person could be executed for a crime that they did not commit. An execution cannot be undone. Studies have also shown that the death penalty is a biased method of punishment because disadvantaged people, such as minorities and people of lower social status are more likely to be executed. This is unfair because all people have the same rights and should receive equal and fair punishment for their crimes. An alternative punishment to the death penalty is life without parole; it is just as effective a way to prevent someone committing more crimes as executing them. Supporters of the death penalty also argue that it is cheaper to execute a criminal than it is to keep them in prison for life. However, statistics have shown that the cost of putting a criminal to death, including all of the time and money spent in... ... middle of paper ... ....deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-about-deterrence-and-death-penalty>. Lowe, Wesley. “Pro Capital Punishment Page.” Pro Capital Punishment Page. 22 July 2009. Web. 02 Jan. 2015. . Ornellas, Lori. “Death Penalty Arguments.” Pro-death penalty.com. 03 May 2001. Web. 09 Jan. 2015. . Reggio, Michael H. “History of the death penalty.” PBS. Web. 5 Jan. 2015. . “Should the death penalty be used for retribution?” Death Penalty - ProCon.org. 06 Jan. 2009. Web. 09 Jan. 2015. . Worsnop, Richard L. “Death Penalty Debate.” CQ Researcher 5.9 (1995): 193-216. CQ Researcher. Web. 2 Jan. 2015. .
Lester, D. (1998). The death penalty issues and answers (2nd edition.). Springfield, IL: Library of Congress Cataloging.
Adams, Cindy. “The Death Penalty as Just Punishment.” Does Capital Punishment Deter or is it a Biased Process? 3 Sept. 2008. 30 May 2010 < http://penal-system.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_death_penalty_as_just_punishment>.
Opponents of capital punishment are outspoken and vehement in their arguments. They believe the death penalty does not does not deter crime. They also hold the opinion that endin...
Geraghty, Thomas F. "Trying to Understand America’s Death Penalty System and Why We Still Have it." Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 94.1 (2003): 209-237. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 5 Nov. 2009.
Latzer, Barry. Death Penalty Cases: Leading U.S. Supreme Court Cases on Capital Punishment. Boston: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1998.
“The Death Penalty: Pro and Con.” Wgbh.org. WGBH Educational Foundation, 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.
Eliminating the death penalty as a method of punishment will only allow criminals to wreak havoc and chaotic in our community without the fear of death. When a person commits a crime, they are disrupting the order in the community. Justice help restore the disruption of that order. The Death penalty restore social order and give the states authority to maximized retribution for the victims. When the state does not have the authority to maximum retribution, the public may put the law in their own hands. Although, execution may be cruel and inhumane, it is nothing compared to the fate of many victims in the hand of the murderers. The purpose of the death penalty is to provide retribution for the victims and their families. However, retribution is not revenge. “Vengeance signifies inflicting harm on the offender out of anger because of what he has done. Retribution is the rationally supported theory that the criminal deserves a punishment fitting the gravity of his crime” (Pojman, 2004).
Radelet, M. L. & Borg, M. J. (2000). The changing nature of death penalty debates. Annual Review of Sociology, 26, 43-61. Retrieved February 7, 2011 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/223436.pdf
The death penalty is the only punishment in some criminal cases. Society feels as though justice is served when criminals receives what is deserved of them. Most people agree that justice is served when the punishment fits the crime.” The death penalty in the U.S is used almost exclusively for the crime of murder. Although state and federal statutes contain various capital crimes other than those involving death of a victim. Only two people were on death row for a non-murder offense, when the U.S. Supreme Court addressed this issue of 2008. No one has been executed for such a crime since it was reinstated in 1976”. No one has been executed since 1976. The death penalty is probably the best choice of some of the corrupted people out here since some of them can make it in and out of prison no problem and still commit crimes.
Pasquerella, Lynn. “The Death Penalty in the United States.” The Study Circle Resource Center of Topsfield Foundation. July 1991. Topsfield Foundation. 03 Feb 2011. Web.
Markoff, Steven C. "Death Penalty ProCon.org." Death Penalty ProCon.org. N.p., 12 July 2014. Web. 4 Mar. 2015.
Van Den Haag, Earnest, and John Conrad. The Death Penalty: A Debate. New York: Plenum Press, 1997.
. Dieter, Richard C. “Cost of Death Penalty and Related Issues”. (2007) Page 4. PDF. Web. 11 November 2012.
Rubin, P. H. (2009). Don't scrap the death penalty. Criminology & Public Policy, 8(4), 853-859.
Costanzo, Mark. Just Revenge: Costs and Consequences of the Death Penalty. New York: St. Martin's, 2001. Print.