Capital Punishment

932 Words2 Pages

Megan Michaux
Capital Punishment
As part of a democracy, Americans accept the rights of the county, state and individual. Social order can only exist when people give up the responsibilities of law enforcement to the government. All fifty states have the right to choose whether or not to utilize capital punishment. It is legal in thirty-seven of those states. (www) I believe capital punishment does not violate the Eighth Amendment because it serves as both a deterrent and retributive purpose. Moral justice can be served through the execution of the convicted and there are humane ways in which the government can execute.
When the Constitution was drafted, capital punishment was practiced widely in this country, yet it was not specified as wrong or as cruel and unusual. Many of the framers and philosophers of the Constitution supported capital punishment. ( Locke)
Citizens under a social contract agree not to kill only because others also agree not to kill.
When that bond of trust is broken, the law must take action to maintain balance within the economy. I think that it is the function of laws to prevent murder by demonstrating to everyone that it is not in their best interest to take another person’s life.
Capital punishment is the harshest form of punishment enforced in the United

States today. Once a jury has convicted a criminal, they agree on a punishment. If the

jury recommends capital punishment and the judge agrees, the criminal will then face

some form of execution, a punishment that once performed cannot be reversed. Each year

there are about 250 people added to Death Row and 35 executed. (www) However, I

believe the fear of death discourages people from committing crimes and there must be

fear and intimidation. to achieve model citizens and a better society
Perhaps one of the biggest objections to capital punishment is the immorality of consenting to kill another human being. Opponents believe that capital punishment is the permissible ...

... middle of paper ...

...is impossible to know who may have been prevented from a committing a crime.
Capital punishment is a method of retribution it is as old as civilization itself.

Biblical times tell of the execution of great heroes such as Jesus and Joan of Arch, whom

were killed for moral differences and religious beliefs. Executions today are used in only

extreme cases where the individual is harmful to them self and society. Unfit society

members such as Timothy McVay, who was responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing,

should allowed back onto the streets, nor should we use the taxpayers’ dollar to sentence

them to life imprisonment. The proper justice for such offenders is clearly capital

punishment. Capital punishment brings justice to the victims’ families and to the

members of society whom were affected by the criminals actions in a humane yet

permanent way. For these reasons of justice and societal order capital punishment does

not violate the Eighth Amendment.

WORKS CITED
Block, Eugene B.. When Men Play God: The Fallacy of Capital Punishment. San Francisco: Cragmont Publications, 1983.
Locke, John. Second Treatise of Civil Government. Ch 2, Sec 6
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