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Capital punishment morally acceptable or not
Justification for capital punishment
Capital punishment morally acceptable or not
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In practice capital punishment is flawed in a multitude of ways and should not be practiced, but in principle capital punishment is ethical and can be a legitimate sentence. Capital punishment can be supported when the crime committed is extremely horrendous and when the individual under question who has committed a serious crime cannot be rehabilitated. As a rule of thumb rehabilitation should be the first goal, but if that goal cannot be completed the individual is a threat to society and capital punishment can be justified. There are few exceptions to the rule above. There are certain crimes that are so horrendous that the individual deserves capital punishment regardless of their capacity for rehabilitation.
There are few circumstances where an individual’s specific crime can bypass the question of rehabilitation and cause them to ethically deserve the death penalty. Some cases that come to mind are the Colorado movie theater shooting and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Both the crimes mentioned above caused the death of a multitude of innocent people and impacted...
Although the death penalty alone cannot bring back the life of those who have been murdered, it can serve as ultimate justice for the victims and their families. The deterrence of the death penalty can save lives. While opinions abound on both sides of the fence, in the use of the death penalty on juveniles, no one can argue with the fact that the voices of those murdered cannot be heard. Juveniles may not have fully developed brains, as Raeburn argues, but this is not an adequate excuse to dismiss the death penalty. American society cannot afford to babysit murderers, nor can they rehabilitate them. The end of the innocence begins when an innocent life is taken, and the sanctity of life is held defenseless.
If a criminal is sentenced to twenty-five years in prison, then he/she knows that all the necessities needed to survive for those twenty-five years, including food, water, shelter, and even a possible chance of release, will be provided. Those who are homeless and living on the streets do not even have some of the same advantages that those in our prison systems do, so in other words, prison, to some people, may not be much of a deterrent after all.... ... middle of paper ... ... In conclusion, although there are objections to this way of thinking, I believe that capital punishment can be morally justified.
Capital punishment is something no person should endure, no matter how awful the committed crime may be. It is a cruel and sick punishment, for example, someone who has killed somebody has to undergo various gruesome and awful forms of capital punishment such as electrocution where they strap you to a chair and 1000 watts of electricity flow through your body or decapitation where the person is restrained to a wooden device with a sharp blade and then the blade is released or even immurement where the person is left to starve and dehydrate to death. When they are convicted to capital punishment, they are just waiting for death, and how slow and/or painful the procedure might be.
Capital punishment only shows how America as a nation still clings on to practices used from long ago. Now with the implementation of new forms of justice it’s seems reasonable that nefarious traditions be omitted from the itinerary. Rehabilitation is far better for the people than the use of life-ending threats that do not help to deter the committing of crimes.
In conclusion, capital punishment is an unjustifiable act used to punish criminals. The death penalty is not only expensive, but it also lowers our morality. Desmond Tutu once said, "To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice." America is meant to be a country that symbolizes justice and the act of the government killing people, regardless of whatever reason, contradicts that. Therefore, the United States should outlaw capital punishment and convert to an alternative punishment, such as life imprisonment without parole, where the criminal can spend the rest of his life locked in a cell and living with what they did, to become the justifiable country it’s known as.
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is defined as the pre-meditated or planned taking of a human life by a government in response to a crime committed by that legally convicted person. It has been discussed extensively over the years by many people. There are many reasons to agree or disagree with capital punishment, but the reasons against it completely outweigh the ones that support it. Many of the justifications for affirming the death penalty either do not apply wholly to our justice system, are misunderstood, or just do not make sense. There is no justification for killing other human beings and all of the arguments cannot change this. Since 1976, over one thousand people have been executed by the government.
I believe that capital punishment is necessary to ensure justice. Certain criminals commit crimes so great that they warrant death. The emotional tolls of the people around the victim can be alleviated by the death of the perpetrator. Prisons are inherently difficult to run, and capital punishment reduces the efforts that must be expended to successfully manage a prison. Capital punishment reduces crime in the way that it offers an incentive great enough to prevent offenses such as mass murder. Capital punishment holds much support in its favor, and I believe that it should remain.
Capital punishment is unconstitutional, and violates human rights; a point of view rarely seen when debating the topic. Everyone talks about deterrence, everyone talks about justice for the victim, but no one seems to remember that even though the person responsible for a crime, whatever the nature of this crime is, is still a human being with constitutional, and human rights just like all of us.
Ethics and morality are the founding reasons for both supporting and opposing the death penalty, leading to the highly contentious nature of the debate. When heinous crimes are com...
“Since the reinstatement of the death penalty in the United States in 1976, 138 innocent men and women have been released from the death row, including some who came within minutes of execution. In Missouri, Texas and Virginia investigations have been opened to determine if those states executed innocent men. To execute an innocent person is morally reprehensible; this risk we cannot
The procedure known as “parole” in the criminal justice system has been in practice in the United States since the late 1800’s when it was begun in a reformatory in Elmira, New York. It’s process provides for early conditional release from prison for convicted felons, after part of their prison sentence has been served, and they are found to be eligible for parole based on factors such as: conduct while incarcerated, rehabilitative efforts/progress, type of offense, and remorse for their crime. Its use has been expanded to many states, and today has become the primary way by which offenders are released from prisons and correctional institutions. Unfortunately, parole is not always rewarded to worthy inmates, thus putting society at risk for repeated crimes that often outweigh the benefits of parole, therefore, parole should be abolished and inmates should be made to complete their full sentences. Prison inmates are usually sentenced by the severity of their crimes, as well as their mental intention at the time of the act. For example: a person who commits murder intentionally expects to take the life of another in reckless disregard for human life, and knows that the act itself which he or she has decided to commit, will surely bring about death. However, in the case of manslaughter, which is also the taking of a human life, there is no actual intention to bring about death. The act that lead to someone’s death, is measured by the circumstances that made the person kill such as self-defense, or a crime of passion because the killer was provoked in such a way that a chain of events lead to violence which eventually resulted in peril. Because of the difference in how these crimes are carried out, inmates are sentenced differently; some are sentenced to life in prison, and others are sentenced to several years and will be eligible for parole after serving part of their sentence. In lieu of inmates completing their full sentences, parole tries to achieve releasing inmates early based on the idea that the inmate has been sufficiently punished, and should be given the opportunity to become a law abiding citizen, capable of functioning in our society with adequate supervision. Although parole attempts to carefully screen inmates prior to granting early release, their decisions often do not merit wise choices. As a social worker, I e...
While we may all want murders off the street, the problem we come to face is that capital punishment is being used for vengeance or as a deterrent. Capital punishment has been used worldwide, not only by the governments to instill fear, but to show that there are repercussions to ones actions. From the time we are born, we are taught to learn the difference between right and wrong. It is ingrained in our brains, what happens to people that do bad things? Capital punishment is renowned for being the worst thing that could be brought amongst ones life.
Capital punishment should be re-introduced, and should only be used for crimes that are committed by people whose intention was just to kill people for entertainment, cannibalism or to spread terror. There are lots of advantages if capital punishment is carried out correctly: There is no possibility for them to commit another crime, it acts as a deterrent for others who do/may do that crime, saves us (tax-payers) lots of money as they don’t get kept in jail for their entire life, it may make the victim’s family feel better and it acts like a revenge for the victim’s family.
The key issues involve whether the U.S. should sustain the current death penalty system, abolish it in favor of life in prison without parole plus restitution, or only reform the system to make it less costly and free of class, racial, and mental illness discrepancies. Many people have a stake in the issue. Organizations such as Amnesty International and the American Civil Liberties Union are against the death penalty because they claim it is a cruel and unusual form of punishment, while other groups such as the National Center for Policy Analysis support the death penalty because they believe that life sentences do not deter homicide. Furthermore, victims’ families have a stake in the issue because they deserve justice for their murdered loved ones, and convicted murders have a stake because their own lives are in jeopardy as they sit on death row. Most importantly, all the citizens of the United States are involved in the matter, since the way in which we punish crime affects public safety.
I believe that under certain circumstances that capital punishment should be allowed because if someone is going to commit mass murder they should pay with the ultimate human right which is of their life. This topic has been widely thought of in the world with a few philosophers really encompassing my views. Those are the views of Ernest Van Den Haag and Bruce Fein. Philosophers who oppose our views are such like Justice William Brennan and Hugo Adam Bedau. I will prove my point using the ideas of deterrence and morality of the issue of capital punishment. If the government would show that if you kill someone there will be a consequence for their actions and that the consequence would be equal to what they have done. The population will see that it isn’t worth taking another humans life. If we were to kill people that are committing these mass killings of innocent people there would not be as many criminals around. Therefore the streets would be a place people wouldn’t be afraid of anymore.