Argumentative Essay: Killing Killers To Prevent Killing

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Killing Killers to prevent Killing The execution of criminals has long existed throughout history, in various civilizations, dating as far back as ancient Babylon. While this ancient punishment may have been useful in a more primitive past, it has no place in the modern world, and should be abolished. The death penalty is ineffective, inefficient, and needs to come to an end.

In 1608, the first death by execution was recorded in the American colonies, and it was for treason (deathpenaltyprocon.org). By 1787, when the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution, capital punishment was included, albeit limited by the fifth and eighth ammendments (deathpenaltyprocon.org). However, on April 25, 2012, Connecticut officially abolished the death …show more content…

In origin, capital punishment was reserved for only the most extreme of crimes, as was intended as a heavy threat to those who would consider homicide. The goal was deterrence, which is the use of punishment to threaten (or deter) criminals from offending. Unfortunately, this has failed in action. According to Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 88% of of Criminologists believe that the death penalty is a not a successful deterrent for homicide. Additionally, a staggering 87% of them claim that abolishing the death penalty would have no impact on homicide rates (deathpenaltyinfo.org). To compare, this is neither significantly higher or lower than the deterrence of life in prison, which is only a step below a death sentence (deathpenaltycurriculum.org). Ultimately, capital punishment is not having the intended effect it was purposed for, and it’s not worth being …show more content…

Although there is concern about overcrowding in prisons, mainly from those who support capital punishment, it is a lesser evil when compared to the money thrown away into an ancient, dying system. In 2013, there were only 80 criminals who were issued death sentences (deathpenaltyinfo.org). This number is insignificant when arguing that abolishing capital punishment would further crowd prisons, nor does it make any impact if the death penalty was not abolished. This argument renders

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