Fear is defined as an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat. Fear is used in the death penalty as a way to deter people from murder and provide justice for the victims. The death penalty can be executed in many different ways: lethal injection, electrocution, hanging, firing squad, and gas chamber. Due to economic issues, we believe that death penalty should be carried out by hanging. The death penalty is very controversial nationwide. However, we believe the death penalty is the only way to deter crime.
Unlike the lethal injection, electrocution, firing squad, and gas chamber, hanging is more painful; therefore, using hanging as a death penalty puts more fear into murderers (Death Penalty Information Center). “Although you will never deter all murderers, the effect of deterrence will rise as the probability of executions rise” (Sharp “Death Penalty Paper”). Whenever death penalties are used as a punishment, the percentage of murders committed declines. A study done by three Emory University economists concludes that for every death penalty execution there are 18 fewer murders. Similar studies from scholars at the University of Houston, SUNY Buffalo, Clemson, and the Federal Communications Commission have proven to show the same results (Jacoby). “And all of them underscore an inescapable bottom line: The execution of murderers protects innocent life” (Jacoby).
Recently in the United States, there has been 875 prisoners executed, but not one has been proven innocent. The death penalty provides justice to the families involved in the worst crimes (Jacoby). “The execution of a murderer sends a powerful moral message: that the innocent life he t...
... middle of paper ...
...es, but we do not tear the lighthouse down’” (qtd. by Sharp “Death Penalty Paper”). We believe that the death penalty should be enforced because it can be used as a way to put fear into criminals and decrease the murder rate throughout the world.
Works Cited
Death Penalty Information Center. N.p., 13 Feb. 2014. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
"Death Penalty ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Jacoby, Jeff. “WHEN MURDERERS DIE, INNOCENTS LIVE.” Boston Globe. Boston Globe, 28 Sep
1993. Web. 22 Feb 2014.
Liptak, Adam. "Does Death Penalty Save Lives? A New Debate." The New York Times. The New
York Times, 17 Nov. 2007. Web. 22 Feb. 2014.
Sharp, Dudley. “Death Penalty Paper.” Pro death penalty. Justice for all, 01 Oct 1997. Web. 22
Feb 2014.
Sharp, Dudley. “Mental Retardation and the Death Penalty.” .N.p., 18 Oct 2001. Web. 22 Feb
2014.
Special attention will be given to the topics of deterrence, the families of the victims, and the increased population that has been occurring within our prisons. Any possible objections will also be assessed, including criticism regarding the monetary value of the use of the death penalty and opposition to this practice due to its characteristics, which some identify as hypocritical and inhumane. My goal in arguing for the moral justifiability of capital punishment is not to use this practice extensively, but rather to reduce the use to a minimum and use it only when necessary. Above all else, capital punishment should be morally justified in extreme situations because it has a deterrent effect. Many criminals seem to be threatened more by the thought of death rather than a long-term prison sentence.
According to Radelet & Borg (2000), deterrence was, in the past, the most frequently-cited reason for arguments in support of the death penalty. The claim stems from a belief that potential criminals will be less likely to commit severe acts of violence if they know that those who carried out similar crimes before them were put to death – in much the same way that heads on pikes at the gates of a city were intended to deter criminal activity in the Middle Ages. Recently, however, many studies have concluded that the death penalty offers no significant deterrent effects, and the few which claim to find support for these effects have received substantial criticism (Radelet & Borg, 2000). The majority of both criminologists and law enforcement officers surveyed expressed that they do not believe the death penalty offers any difference in the amount of violent crimes committed (Radelet & Borg, 2000).
Sharp, Dudley. "Death Penalty Paper." Death Penalty Paper. Justice For All, n.d. Web. 03 Feb. 2014.
From the time the first colonists arrived in the late Sixteen Hundreds Pennsylvania executions were carried out by public hanging (Cor.state.pa.us, 2014). In Eighteen Forty Three, Pennsylvania became the first state to abolish public hangings. From Eighteen Thirty Four until Nineteen Fifty Three each county was responsible for carrying out private hanging of criminal within the wall of the county jail.
Bedau, Hugo Adam. “The Case Against the Death Penalty.” ACLU.org. 2012. Web. 4 December 2013. https://www.aclu.org/capital-punishment/case-against-death-penalty
Colson, Charles W. “Capital Punishment.” The Rutherford Institute. 11 Nov. 2002. 30 May 2010 .
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).
Radelet, Michael L., and Traci L. Lacock. "Do Executions Lower Homicide Rates? The Views of Leading Criminologists." The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology99.2 (2009): 489-508. Death Penalty Information Center. Northwestern University School of Law, 2009. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
It is unnerving to think that everyday some of the most unspeakable murders and killings take place just under the noses of the authorities and normal people. The killers responsible for these crimes are threats to society and deserve capital punishment. The death penalty is an acceptable and fair method of punishment because it serves justice, provides victim’s families with closure, and increases safety.
Almost all nations in the world either have the death sentence or have had it at one time. It was used in most cases to punish those who broke the laws or standards that were expected of them. Since the death penalty wastes tax money, is inhumane, and is largely unnecessary it should be abolished in every state across the United States. The use of the death penalty puts the United States in the same category as countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia which are two of the world’s worst human rights violators (Friedman 34). Lauri Friedman quotes, “Executions simply inject more violence into an already hostile American society.”
“The case Against the Death Penalty.” aclu.org. American Civil Liberties Union, 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2013
Does the death penalty deter? Scientific studies have consistently failed to find convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments. The most recent survey of research findings on the relation between the death penalty and homicide rates, conducted for the United Nations in 1988 and updated in 1996, concluded: "Research has failed to provide scientific proof that executions have a greater deterrent effect than life imprisonment and such proof is unlikely to be forthcoming. The evidence as a whole still gives no positive support to the deterrent hypothesis..."(Hood 238)
When someone is legally convicted of a capital crime, it is possible for their punishment to be execution. The Death Penalty has been a controversial topic for many years. Some believe the act of punishing a criminal by execution is completely inhumane, while others believe it is a necessary practice needed to keep our society safe. In this annotated bibliography, there are six articles that each argue on whether or not the death penalty should be illegalized. Some authors argue that the death penalty should be illegal because it does not act as a deterrent, and it negatively effects the victim’s families. Other scholar’s state that the death penalty should stay legalized because there is an overcrowding in prisons and it saves innocent’s lives. Whether or not the death penalty should be
Fein, Bruce. "Individual Rights and Responsibility - The Death Penalty, But Sparingly." Speech. American Bar Association. Feb. 2003. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is how the saying goes. Coined by the infamous Hammurabi’s Code around 1700 BC, this ancient expression has become the basis of a great political debate over the past several decades – the death penalty. While the conflict can be whittled down to a matter of morals, a more pragmatic approach shows defendable points that are far more evidence backed. Supporters of the death penalty advocate that it deters crime, provides closure, and is a just punishment for those who choose to take a human life. Those against the death penalty argue that execution is a betrayal of basic human rights, an ineffective crime deterrent, an economically wasteful option, and an outdated method. The debate has experienced varying levels of attention over the years, but has always kept in the eye of the public. While many still advocate for the continued use of capital punishment, the process is not the most cost effective, efficient, consistent, or up-to-date means of punishment that America could be using today.