Arguments Against Capital Punishment

1390 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Four basic philosophies of punishment

Capital punishment has been the “ultimate” price to pay for criminals over hundred of years. This form of punishment was designed to keep criminals off our streets and to scare people from committing heinous crimes, like murder. Without capital punishment, our society would seem as if it supported the act of murder. Showing that you will lose your life, if you choose to take the life of another, proves how seriously these crimes are taken by society. There are arguments for capital punishment, and there are arguments against it, but what is the best argument for/against having capital punishment?
In order to understand the best argument for capital punishment, it is important to discuss the five characteristics needed for something to be a punishment: involve pain, be administered for an offense against a law or rule, be administered by someone who has been judged guilty of an offense, be imposed by someone other than the offender, and be imposed by rightful authority . Each of these is an important aspect of punishment and should be discussed further.
The first characteristic of punishment is that punishment must involve pain. In most cases, this is the pain does not have to be physical pain, but it can be a pain that is caused from taking away someone’s freedoms. Capital punishment obviously involves pain because it is the act of taking someone’s life in order to pay for the crimes that they have committed.
The second characteristic is the idea that punishment must be administered for an offense against a law or rule. According to this characteristic, if you break a law, you should be punished. Just like those in favor of capital punishment believe, it is important for those who have committed crimes to be help resp...

... middle of paper ...

...al punishment. I believe that if you are willing to take the life of an innocent person, your life should be taken away. Giving someone a life-sentence in prison could be a luxury compared to what they have before committing the crime. If a criminal was homeless and without food, going to jail would be a nice upgrade because he ends up getting a roof over his head, three meals a day, and a place to sleep-all things he did not have before committing a crime. Although most argue that be sentenced to life in prison is an adequate punishment for murder, due to the fact that you lose all of your freedoms, I disagree. I mainly disagree because I think the only proper punishment for a murderer is to take away their life, just like they took away their victim’s life. This type of punishment can only come from capital punishment and it is a necessity to our society.

Show More
Related

  • Argument for The Abolishment of Capital Punishment GCSE

    1167 Words  | 3 Pages

    Do two wrongs make a right? That is the question you should ask yourself. How can one life be worth more than another?s? Would you like to have your dignity, and even your basic human rights to stripped away from you at the flick of a switch or the pull of a trigger?

    Read More

  • Argument Against Capital Punishment in Australia

    2208 Words  | 5 Pages

    Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as a punishment for a serious crime, often called a capital offence or a capital crime. In those jurisdictions that practice capital punishment, its use is usually restricted to a small number of criminal offences, principally, treason and murder, that is, the deliberate premeditated killing of another person. In the early 18th and 19th century the death penalty was inflicted in many ways. Some ways were, crucifixion, boiling in oil, drawing and quartering, impalement, beheading, burning alive, crushing, tearing asunder, stoning and drowning. In the late 19th century the types of punishments were limited and only a few of them remained permissible by law.

    Read More

  • Jeffrey Toobin's Perspectives On Capital Punishment

    1174 Words  | 3 Pages

    Capital punishment has been a hot topic debate the past years, especially now that it is slowly dying out throughout the states. In this paper I have brought out four people’s opinion on their views about capital punishment. With these people ideals, I wanted to bring forth a small sample of people’s ideals to leave the you, the reader, with some perspective on others

    Read More

  • The Pro And Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    Capital punishment is the type of punishment that allows the execution of prisoners who are charged and convicted because they committed a “capital crime.” Capital crime is a crime that is considered so horrible and terrifying that anyone who commits it should be punished with death (McMahon, Wallace). After so many years this type of punishment, also known as the “death penalty”, remains a very controversial topic all around the world, raising countless debates on whether it should be legalized or not.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Banning The Death Penalty

    1436 Words  | 3 Pages

    The death penalty also known as the capital punishment is used to punish the criminal involving in serious criminal cases. This happens after he or she has been found guilty of a crime by the legal system. This form of punishment is to ensure that the person cannot commit future crimes, and/or as a deterrent to potential criminals. The inmates could choose from the following way of death they are lethal injection, electric chair, gas chamber, firing squad, and hanging. Each of these punishments is inhuman and a violation of the 8th amendment of the Constitution.

    Read More

  • Ethical Issues In The Death Penalty

    1624 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Death Penalty practice has always been a topic of major debate and ethical concern among citizens in society. The death penalty can be defined as the authorization to legally kill a person as punishment for committing a crime, this practice is also known as Capital Punishment. The purpose of creating a harsher punishment for criminals was to deter other people from committing atrocious crimes and it was also intended to serve as a way of incapacitation and retribution. In fact, deterrence, incapacitation, and retribution are some of the basic concepts in the justice system, which explain the intentions of creating punishments as a consequence for illegal conduct. In the United States, the Congress approved the federal death penalty on June 25, 1790 and according to the Death Penalty Focus (DPF, 2011) organization website “there have been 343 executions, two of which were women”.

    Read More

  • The Case Against The Death Penalty

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    It's dark and cold, the fortress-like building has cinderblock walls, and death lurks around the perimeter. A man will die tonight. Under the blue sky, small black birds gather outside the fence that surrounds the building to flaunt their freedom. There is a gothic feel to the scene, as though you have stepped into a horror movie.

    Read More

  • The Case Against Capital Punishment

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    Proponents of capital punishment believe that killing criminals is a moral and ethical way of punishing them.  They feel there is justification in taking the life of a certain criminal, when in fact that justification is nothing more than revenge.  They also feel that the death penalty deters crime, although there have been no conclusive studies confirming that viewpoint (Bedau).

    Read More

  • Death Penalty is Legal in 32 States

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment Essay: Enforcing The Death Penalty

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    The capital punishment has been cited as a reasonable sentence by those who advocate for retribution. This is essentially when it comes to justice so that people take full responsibility for their individual actions. Studies have proved that the decision to take away life of a person because they committed a certain crime serves to perpetuate the crime in question. It also serves to enhance the progress of organized and violent crime. It has been noted that various flaws in the justice system has led to the wrong conviction of innocent people. On the other hand, the guilty have also been set free, and a plethora of several cases has come up when a critical look at the capital punishment has been undertaken. Killers hardly kill their victims deliberately, but they probably act on anger, passion, or impulsively. In this regard, it is not proper to convict them exclusively without

    Read More

  • Affirmative Action and Capital Punishment

    1177 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Ethics of Capital Punishment

    1503 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • An Eye for an Eye: The Death Penalty

    1563 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...st “end the death penalty”. There must still be a punishment inflicted upon those who deviate from the understanding that killing is wrong and the punishment must be strong enough to discourage others. I feel that the most effective punishment is complete social and sensory isolation, as well as life in prison. The punishment is not about inflicting pain or exacting revenge, it is about forcing the killer to stew in their own doing and be cut off from any form of enjoyment whatsoever. Anyone could agree that being deprived of even the simplest of pleasures is indeed the worst punishment one could endure aside from death. This also removes killers from society permanently. While I believe that it is wrong to relieve someone of their basic human rights, I feel that it is justified to relieve them of their legal rights if it is for the betterment and safety of society.

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment Justified

    1152 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment Should be Abolished

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    Capital punishment is the punishment of death for a crime given by the state. It is used for a variety of crimes such as murder, drug trafficking and treason. Many countries also have the death penalty for sexual crimes such as rape, incest and adultery. The lethal injection, the electric chair, hanging and stoning are all methods of execution used throughout the world. Capital punishment has been around since ancient times; it was used in ancient Rome, and one of the most famous people to be crucified was Jesus Christ. Capital punishment is now illegal in many countries, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, but it is also legal in many other countries such as China and the USA. There is a large debate on whether or not capital punishment should be illegal all over the world as everyone has a different opinion on it. In this essay, I will state arguments for and against the death penalty, as well as my own opinion: capital punishment should be illegal everywhere.

    Read More

More about Arguments Against Capital Punishment

Open Document