Persuasive Essay On Capital Punishment

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Recommended: Capital punishment does not reduce crime

In the United States today, there are 3,002 inmates awaiting their ultimate “payment” to society (Death Row Inmates by State). These human beings are going through one of the most outdated and inhumane processes that our country continues to practice: capital punishment.
Capital punishment is one of the most controversial laws in the United States to this day because it determines the fate of any criminal, guilty or not, with a severe enough charge. Many supporters of this law argue that execution is necessary in order to discipline heinous criminals; however, this is not the case. Capital punishment has time after time proven to be ineffective in its efforts. With this in mind, the United States should be seriously considering a new plan of …show more content…

Naturally, the penalty’s supporters will argue otherwise. They believe that execution will frighten potential criminals, thinking that they would be afraid of the ultimate sacrifice. However, this is proven incorrect. Clarence Darrow explains that the rising number of crime in the country is a clear indicator that capital punishment is not stopping crime from happening. He explains that crime is not so simple that it has no reason behind it (Capital Punishment Will Not Safeguard Society). Crime is something that takes time to digest, because it holds questions, such as, “Why was this done?”, or “How could this happen?” Simply believing that execution will deter crime is foolish because crimes are often done with little thinking of the consequences or with utter indifference for them. It fails as an argument in support of this unreformed law. Are we as human beings this desperate to protect such a law that denies such basic and essential civil …show more content…

But it is hardly probable that the great majority of people refrain from killing their neighbors because they are afraid; they refrain because they never had the inclination. (Capital Punishment Will Not Safeguard Society)
Criminals will always act on impulse and instinct, and no execution is going to change their mind. Keeping capital punishment will not only have no effect on criminal decision making but ultimately end lives without any form of justification to back it up. In 1976, Georgia, among other states adopted new approaches for capital punishment, which was still considered constitutional given that the cases fell into the proper guidelines. These guidelines were that the cases were to be closely examined and executed and that they were to be carried out only with retribution and deterrence as an outcome. However, recent studies have not shown much support of this theory (Dieter, The Death Penalty Cannot Be

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