Capital Punishment

685 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Ethics: research on capital punishment

Capital punishment has become a very controversial issue in the world. There are different views and opinions on capital punishment. It can be argued that the death penalty is an effective punishment, and necessary. Along with this, it can be argued that executing people is unethical and a non-effective punishment. First, some may say the death penalty is effective and necessary because it makes criminals think twice before committing a crime. If the criminal knows that they could be killed as a punishment, they may rethink their choice. In addition, the death penalty is necessary because it is not fair for those who committed terrible crimes to just be sentenced to a life time in jail. Although they are stuck in jail for the rest of their lives, they aren’t given enough justice. The punishment of a criminal should be fit to the crime. The counterexample of this is that the death penalty is unethical, and non-effective for many reasons. The biggest issue with the death penalty is the expenses that go along with it. The death penalty is also hypocritical, and un-reversible. If someone who was given the death penalty was later found guilty, there would be no way to bring them back, whereas if they were in jail they could be taken out. There are better alternatives, that are just as effective as the death penalty, such as jail. Lastly, you can never be 100% sure that someone is guilty, and when handling a life or death situation you can not be “sort-of” sure of the guilt. There is evidence to support both sides of this argument over capital punishment.
My opinion is that capital punishment is not ethical, and it is not okay for the government to execute people. It is hypocritical for the government to kill someone because they kill...

... middle of paper ...

...elevision, and they are still alive. Life is precious, and when you take they life of someone else away from them, you don’t deserve life yourself. I found this a very valid point, and it supported their proposition greatly. I agree, and do not think it is fair for someone who murdered and raped innocent people should be able to have these luxuries. The death penalty isn't necessarily the answer though. Inmates shouldn’t have the privileges of watching television, and should have more of a punishment. The opposing group presented their ideas and examples that supported why the death penalty is wrong, and non-effective. One thing they mentioned was that we do not have the resources, nor the money to make 100% sure that someone is guilty of the crime they are accused of. There would be a tremendous amount of guilt that would go along with killing an innocent person.

Show More
Related

  • Capital Punishment

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    Murder, a common occurrence in American society, is thought of as a horrible, reprehensible atrocity. Why then, is it thought of differently when the state government arranges and executes a human being, the very definition of premeditated murder? Capital punishment has been reviewed and studied for many years, exposing several inequities and weaknesses, showing the need for the death penalty to be abolished.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Short-Term Deterrence

    1355 Words  | 3 Pages

    Based on public opinion and facts of this side, “the death penalty process consumes tremendous amounts of money and resources and fails to deter criminal activity” (Ballaro and Cushman, 2016). The people do not want to see tax money squandered on such a fruitless endeavor, instead send the person to jail for life and be done with it. The people believe this view even more so, because of the belief that putting a murderer to death is, in fact, a hypocritical act and makes a murder out of the system and all who played a role in doing so, making the prosecutors no better than the convicted. While the death penalty prevents one murderer from killing again, it created countless more proving that the capital punishment is a useless deterrent all in all. This point of view and belief is the opposing side’s view to capital punishment’s acting as a

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment

    1397 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many positions can be defended when debating the issue of capital punishment. In Jonathan Glover's essay "Executions," he maintains that there are three views that a person may have in regard to capital punishment: the retributivist, the absolutist, and the utilitarian. Although Glover recognizes that both statistical and intuitive evidence cannot validate the benefits of capital punishment, he can be considered a utilitarian because he believes that social usefulness is the only way to justify it. Martin Perlmutter on the other hand, maintains the retributivist view of capital punishment, which states that a murderer deserves to be punished because of a conscious decision to break the law with knowledge of the consequences. He even goes as far to claim that just as a winner of a contest has a right to a prize, a murderer has a right to be executed. Despite the fact that retributivism is not a position that I maintain, I agree with Perlmutter in his claim that social utility cannot be used to settle the debate about capital punishment. At the same time, I do not believe that retributivism justifies the death penalty either.

    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

  • Capital Punishment

    1442 Words  | 3 Pages

    “This is not a nice man … innocent is not a word that suits him in any way,” says Brian Webster when speaking of Matthew Poncelet, the man on death row in the movie Dead Man Walking. Many people feel that the death penalty is immoral and it should not be used; however I feel completely opposite. I believe that capital punishment is a fair sentence for a murderer to receive. In the movie Dead Man Walking, the main character Matthew Poncelet, is on death row waiting for the lethal injection that will soon put him to death for good.

    Read More

  • The Death Penalty: Anyone Who Muders Should Be Put To Death

    840 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many pros to the death penalty. Some claim that there is a preventative effect on potential murderers, although there is a lot of debate about this and just about every other argument for or against capital punishment. Another is the idea of incapacitation. Truthfully, why should someone have the right to live if they have taken that right from another person? The purpose why this writer supports capital punishment is because in observing victims’ families and their grief over murdered loved ones. This writer believes anyone who murders should be put to death. One reason for this is because people should not have the right to live after they have killed a fellow human being. The death penalty is a topic dealing with ethics, a set of moral principles or values. This issue is constantly filled with mix feelings and attitudes which the writer will attempt to present in the following paragraphs.

    Read More

  • The Death Penalty

    853 Words  | 2 Pages

    The death penalty continues to be an issue of controversy and is an issue that will be debated in the United States for many years to come. According to Hugo A. Bedau, the writer of “The Death Penalty in America”, capital punishment is the lawful infliction of the death penalty. The death penalty has been used since ancient times for a variety of offenses. The Bible says that death should be done to anyone who commits murder, larceny, rapes, and burglary. It appears that public debate on the death penalty has changed over the years and is still changing, but there are still some out there who are for the death penalty and will continue to believe that it’s a good punishment. I always hear a lot of people say “an eye for an eye.” Most people feel strongly that if a criminal took the life of another, their’s should be taken away as well, and I don’t see how the death penalty could deter anyone from committing crimes if your going to do the crime then at that moment your not thinking about being on death role. I don’t think they should be put to death they should just sit in a cell for the rest of their life and think about how they destroy other families. A change in views and attitudes about the death penalty are likely attributed to results from social science research. The changes suggest a gradual movement toward the eventual abolition of capital punishment in America (Radelet and Borg, 2000).

    Read More

  • capital punishment

    950 Words  | 2 Pages

    murder rates in given areas both before and after an execution. Clear and cole(2000) have

    Read More

  • capital punishment

    1281 Words  | 3 Pages

    The death penalty dates back to the eighteenth century. Criminals received many punishments throughout the centuries such as hangings, quartering, and burning at the stake. The death penalty consists of lethal injections today. The death penalty is a controversial topic because some people are for the death penalty and some people are against the death penalty. There is no one consensus for or against the death penalty. Although there have been many studies on the immorality of the death penalty and whether or not to limit the death penalty in some ways or just completely abolish it all together. It appears that more people are leading towards getting rid of the death penalty, but the courts want to keep it because the courts argue that that it is a successful fear tactic and may prevent future crimes. The death penalty is inhumane, biased, arbitrary, and an unsuccessful fear tactic so it should be abolished.

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment

    678 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over one hundred and forty people have been exonerated and freed of capital punishment since 1973.

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment

    2330 Words  | 5 Pages

    One of the most controversial topics that affects the United States and other nations in

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment

    367 Words  | 1 Pages

    The debate over capital punishment has been going on for years, and continues to be an extremely indecisive and complicated issue. The death penalty is a very touchy issue within society. There are many pro's and con's on this issue. On one hand, there are people who claim that capital punishment is a form of vengeance on a killer. One the other hand, there are people who believe that locking someone behind bars for life is vengeance enough. But is it "humane" that an individual who takes the life of another should receive heating, clothing, indoor plumbing and 3 square meals a day? While a homeless person who has harmed no one receives nothing?

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    The death penalty has been around for centuries. It dates back to when Hammurabi had his laws codified; it was “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. Capital punishment in America started when spies were caught, put on trial and hung. In the past and still today people argue that, the death penalty is cruel, unusual punishment and should be illegal. Yet many people argue that it is in fact justifiable and it is not cruel and unusual. Capital punishment is not cruel and unusual; the death penalty is fair and there is evidence that the death penalty deters crime.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay Against Death Penalty

    2837 Words  | 6 Pages

    The death penalty is a cruel and unnecessary punishment. It promotes violence and terrorism. The death penalty does not deter a crime, and it costs millions of dollars. The death penalty does not reduce crimes. The death penalty is immoral and it shows discrimination. The death penalty is unfair. The death penalty needs to be abolished because no one deserves to die. Two wrongs do not make a right. Twenty percent have showed that people who were executed was found not guilty.

    Read More

  • The Death Penalty Does NOT Reduce Crime

    1529 Words  | 4 Pages

    Today's system of capital punishment tolerates many inequalities and injustices. The common arguments for the death penalty are filled with holes. Imposing the death penalty is expensive and time consuming. Each year billions of dollars are spent to sentence criminals to death. Perhaps the most frequently raised argument against capital punishment is that of its cost. Other thoughts on the death penalty are to turn criminals away from committing violent acts. A just argument against the death penalty would be that sentencing an individual to death prevents future crimes by other individuals. However, criminals are not afraid of the death penalty. The chance of a criminal being sentenced to death is very slim. The number of inmates actually put to death is far less than it was decades ago. This decrease in number shows that the death penalty is faulty. With that being true, many criminals feel that they can get away with a crime and go unpunished. Also, the less that the death sentence is invoked, the more conflicting it becomes when it is actually used. Alternative can be found to substitute for the death penalty. A huge misconception of the death penalty is that it saves society the costs of keeping inmates imprisoned for long periods of time. Ironically, the cost of the death penalty is far greater than the cost of housing a criminal for life. Appeals on the death penalty become a long, drawn-out and very expensive process. There are those who cry that we, the taxpayers, shouldn't have to "support" condemned people for an entire lifetime in prison-that we should simply "eliminate" them and save ourselves time and money. The truth is that the cost of state killing is up to three times the cost of lifetime imprisonment (Long 80). ...

    Read More

More about Capital Punishment

Open Document