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Arguments for capital punishment
Arguments for and against the death penalty
Argument for capital punishment
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First degree murder is generally defined as the unlawful killing of a human being that was either deliberate or premediated or takes place at the same time as certain other crimes such as, kidnapping. Current state laws make first degree murder punishable by death or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole when specific “Special Circumstances” of the crime have been charged or been proven in court. It is possible though to be released by the parole board after a minimum of 25 years if they feel you are worthy. The death penalty is a topic that the United States is divided on. Currently there are 31 states with the death penalty and California is on that list. In 2012 a ballot was proposed that would appeal the death penalty …show more content…
Systems except for the guillotine that are being used in modern societies by other countries. Where was the humane treatment for the victims? The victims had no appeal process that lasted thirty years. What about the 14 year old child brutally raped and dismembered, or the elderly women murdered for her few dollars? Is life in prison without parole the answer, should we penalize society by incarcerating criminals for life? My opinion is the minute it is decided they will spend the rest of their lives in prison, we should take them out and shoot them, therefore putting society out for the business of caring for people that will never see the light of day. Why should we pay that $63000 per year to house the like of Charles Manson who will never be released? The death penalty is the only deterrent available to prevent more crimes from being committed. Police and States Attorneys use this as a bargaining chip all the time to gain information of other crimes about to be committed or to gain a confession from the accused. Capital punishment is likely to cause less people to contemplate murder or other various illegal actions because people fear death more than anything else. Hence the threat of the death …show more content…
Though this is not due to documentation but rather due to the higher rate at which these groups commit a crime. It has been argued that poverty leads to criminality. If this is true then it makes sense that those at a lower economic level would be more likely to be sentence to execution than those at higher economic levels. It has also been proven that minorities are disproportionately poor, and therefore they would also be more likely to receive the death penalty. Ernest Van den Haag says it the best, “Punishments are imposed on persons, not on … economic groups. Guilt is personal. The only relevant question is: does the person to be executed deserve the punishment? Whether or not others deserved the same punishment, whatever the economic or racial group, have avoided execution is irrelevant.” (ProCon.org) Another argument put forth by people that want the death penalty abolished is that the possibility of executing an innocent person exists. There are many people that argue this point underestimate how often this actually happened or the last time it actually occurred. It is very rare for this to occur and has not happened since 1976 when the death penalty was reintroduced. Steven D Stewart, the prosecuting Attorney for Clark County, Indiana, affectively proves this argument to be
Many people are led to believe that the death penalty doesn’t occur very often and that very few people are actually killed, but in reality, it’s quite the opposite. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1,359 people have been executed as a result of being on death row since 1977 to 2013. Even though this form of punishment is extremely controversial, due to the fact that someone’s life is at stake, it somehow still stands to this very day as our ultimate form of punishment. Although capital punishment puts murderers to death, it should be abolished because killing someone who murdered another, does not and will not make the situation any better in addition to costing tax payers millions of dollars.
Imagine your laying in a hospital bed hooked up to various machines. The doctors and nurses are persistently coming in to check up on you while you’re trying to get through the pain, weakness and slow wasting away of your body. On top of that you are grieving the side effects from numerous drugs, constipation, restlessness, you can barely breathe. You have no appetite because you are constantly throwing up. The doctors have given you little to no chance of survival; and death is at hand, it is just a matter of when. You have said your goodbyes, you have come to terms with dying and you are ready to meet your creator. Now if you had the chance to choose how and when your life ended would you take advantage of it?
The United States should use the death penalty because it is economical and continues to be a deterrent for potential offenders. Take into consideration that the Constitution states that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness can not be taken away without due process. The offenders committing the brutal, heinous crimes have not applied this right to the victims of their crimes. Why should the government take their rights into consideration when the victims rights mean so little to them? People always put forth the idea that killing is wrong in any sense, yet they don’t want to punish the people that commit the crimes.
To be found guilty of first degree murder, it must be proven that killed someone with malice aforethought, meaning it was planned, premeditated. First degree murder is to kill malevolence, to kill either intentionally and deliberately or recklessly with the utmost disregard for human life. Premeditation may be fashioned immediately and does not require a lengthy period of contemplation. The death penalty is recognized in Thirty-eight states. Capital first-degree murder or aggravated first-degree murder is categorized in killings viewed as deserving of capital punishment. Life imprisonment or death penalty is the punishment resulted in a conviction. States who do not recognized the death penalty, aggravated murder carries life imprisonment. When aggravated or capital murder is committed in a heinous or monstrous fashion, it is considered homicide (Lippman, 2006).
Since the 13 colonies were first established in America, the death penalty has been the main form of capital punishment as a firmly deep-rooted institution in the United States. Today, one of the most debated issues in the criminal justice system is the issue of capital punishment. While receiving disapproving viewpoints as those who oppose the death penalty find moral fault in capital punishment, the death penalty has taken a very different course in America while continuing to further advancements in the justice system since the start of the new millennium. While eliminating overcrowding in state jails, the death penalty has managed to save tax payers dollars as well as deteriorate crime and apprehend criminals.
Some might be surprised to realize, “When comparisons are made between states with the death penalty and states without, the majority of death penalty states show murder rates higher than non-death penalty states” (Death Penalty Information 3). Sources show that states with the death penalty have higher murder rates than those without the death. There are many more types of consequences that could have a larger effect on someone than the death penalty. Having a longer sentence and spending the rest of your life in prison could arguably be scarier than being executed. The Death Penalty is not an effective method for criminals. According to a study conducted by the Death Penalty Information Center, “Nearly 78% of those surveyed said that having
It has been demonstrated the one in seven people, or fourteen percent, who are put on death row were innocent of their convicted crimes. The American society is outraged when an innocent person is killed, the fourteen percent would not have to suffer if the death penalty was illegal throughout the country. There is no way to tell how the more one thousand people, possibly more, executed since 1976 may also have been innocent, courts do not generally entertain claims of innocence when the defendant is dead. Wrongful convictions and executions can be made from many of the following factors: mistaken eyewitness testimony, faulty forensic science, fabricated testimony or testimony from jailhouse informants, grossly incompetent lawyers, false confessions, police or prosecutorial misconduct and racial bias. Many of the people who are resentenced from death to life imprisonment may be innocent and rotting behind bars, since without the imminent threat of death, no one will take up their case to exonerate them. Along with the con of the death of innocent people, the elimination of the death penalty proves as a more effective way to deter
Throughout the years the death penalty has been a very controversial aspect when it comes to punishment. Some groups of people believe that is should be abolished and other think that America should keep it. I’m here to say that I am not for the death penalty at all. To me the death penalty has a couple of flaws that I have an issue looking past. The death penalty is very unconstitutional for anyone who is put through it and it is very bias on who it chooses for the punishment.
The death penalty will never be an easy task to take on, whether watching it, or being apart if the process. How did it come about and who made the first decision that a person had to die because of their actions. I all why are some states: including Florida still "putting people to death". Some questions are easier to answer then others, and even though the death penalty seems like the best form of punishment, I 'm not sure if will ever agree whether it 's the right or not?
The death sentence has become a huge controversy in the United States over the past forty years. Over those forty years there has been a lot of less tax payers and donators willing to pay money to the justice system to execute a criminal. These types of people that have helped to pay in the past for these executions have stopped due to them not wanting a death connected to them in any way, or because they simply see life in prison a more suitable punishment. Without the funding needed, the criminals on death row are not able to receive their proper punishment within a reasonable amount of time. A lot of times the criminals never get their proper punishment due to lack of funding. Also, criminals that commit extreme crimes may not get the death penalty due to it not being registered as capital murder. These are all issues that have affected the death penalty over time.
In 45 states, laws allow life sentences for murder that severely limit or eliminate the possibility of parole. Thirteen states impose sentences without the possibility of parole for 25 - 40 years, and all but three of the states that use capital punishment also have the option of life imprisonment with no
“... Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends” (J.R.R. Tolkien). As far back as prehistoric times, the ideas of the death penalty have emerged. Previous offenses included marrying someone Jewish, treachery, chopping down a tree, and oddly enough, the theft of someone's rabbit. As a punishment for committing a crime, someone could be subjected to the torture of being hung, crucified, beheaded, speared, dismembered, boiled, drowned, thrown from a cliff or burned at the stake. Death penalty methods presently are more modernized and include electrocution, lethal injection, gas chambers, and a firing squad.
Speech: Against Capital Punishment. MOTION: "We believe that capital punishment is not needed in a civilised community in the country. " Imagine yourself in a small, isolated cabin waiting to be led to your execution. The symphony of the symphony.
Too many people get to live a full functioning life in prison even after committing heinous crimes. Meanwhile, the families of the victims are left with grievance and despair. If the criminal was callous and malicious enough to carry out the plan to murder someone then they should be ready to face their consequences. If the death penalty were used more frequently, it would deter most criminals from committing these crimes. If life in prison was no longer and option for premeditated murder, but only the death penalty was used, there would be a steady decrease in the amount of murders nationwide. Harsher punishments will set an example to other
There have been many stories in the past stating that innocent people have lost their life because of the death penalty. Mistakes happen and false rulings may be made, but the life of another person will still be taken away. Human beings run the judicial system and all human beings are subject to making mistakes. “The best way to ensure the protection of innocents is to replace the death penalty with the sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole” (Williams 5). Some people wouldn’t agree with life without parole because it’s still giving the murder a gift to stay alive. If someone is on death row, his or her case should be looked over to ensure that they are guilty. Within four years of the starting the death penalty, several hundred people had been sentenced to death. Since 1973, hundreds of people have been released from death rows in 26 states because of innocence.