Capital Punishment Essay - Beyond Horror and Incivility

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The Death Penalty: Beyond Horror and Incivility

"Capital punishment is the infliction of the death penalty on persons convicted of a crime" (Americana 596). Killing convicted felons has been one of the most widely practiced forms of criminal punishment in the United States. Currently, the states that do no practice the death penaly are Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wisconsin. However, for the remaining states that do practice the death penalty, it has been a topic of debate for many years. There are two parties who argue over its many points, including whether or not it is a fitting and adequate punishment, whether or not it acts as a deterrent to crime and whether or not it is morally wrong. These two classes of people can be grouped together as the retentionists, or the proponents, and the abolitionists, or the opponents (596). For the retentionists, the main reasons they are in support of the death penalty are to take revenge, to deter others, and to punish. They are most concerned with the protection of society from dangerous criminals. In spite of all this however, the death penalty is not a good form of criminal punishment for many reasons: it is morally wrong, it does not act as a deterrent for crime, it is irreversible and can be inflicted upon people who are innocent, it is more expensive than imprisonment and those who are convicted commonly use the costly process of appealing the decision and there is no chance to make restitution to the victim and/or the victim's family.

"People that favor the death penalty agree that capital punishment is a relic of barbarism, but as murder itself is barbaric...

... middle of paper ...

...pectacle of publicly sanctioned killing has cheapened human life and dignity without the redeeming grace which comes from justice meted out swiftly, evenly, humanely" (Draper 44).

Works Cited

Amnesty International Report. The Death Penalty. England: Amnesty International Publications, 1979.

Bedau, Hugo Adam. The Death Penalty in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982.

"Capital Punishment." Encyclopedia Americana. 1990 ed.

Draper, Thomas. Capital Punishment. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1985.

Horwitz, Elinor Lander. Capital Punishment U.S.A. New York: J. B. Lippincott, 1973.

Jayewardene, C. H. S. The Penalty of Death. Massachusetts:Lexington, 1977.

Meador, Roy. Capital Revenge: 54 Votes Against Life. Philadelphia:Dorrance, 1975.

"Violent Crime Control And Law Enforcement Act of 1994." 3/8/95(date retrieved).

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