Effects Of Capital Punishment

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Every year, thousands of murders occur in the United States and all across the world. According to Wesley Lowe, during the temporary suspension of capital punishment between 1965 and 1980 alone, the annual murders in the United States jumped from 9,960 to 23,040. (Lowe, 2011). If you or one of your loved one became one of these statistics, wouldn’t you want justice? Now, capital punishment is in full effect and has slowly started to decrease that statistic. John McCrae, John Miller, Michael Lawrence, Donald Dillbeck, and Edward Kennedy all have one thing in common, death. Each of these men have committed numerous murders, only to be put on parole to kill again. (Lowe, 2011). For people that are against capital punishment, how are these people being punished? They have killed innocent people and are now able to walk the streets with the people you love. Who is to say they won’t kill again? This controversy brings up several questions to many Americas. We will examine how the sentencing of capital punishment can benefit our country. We will see how intended, unintended, recognized and unrecognized functions have increased the efficiency of capital punishment under the structural-functional approach. Next we will use the social conflict approach to see classes clash as we view the treatment of prisoners facing death row. Lastly, we will see how each individual views their place and society and how they deal with the hardships of capital punishment. Structural-Functional Approach is based on seeing the world as a whole, while figuring out how it works together to operate. Within the Structural-Function Approach are subcategories created by Robert Merton. In Society: The Basics, the tenth edition, Macionis says that Merton determines... ... middle of paper ... ...portion of American citizens. Lastly, we saw using the symbolic interaction approach that people deal with capital punishment in different ways. Inmates feel no remorse for their wrongdoing, and are likely to have an easy and carefree life while in prison. On the other hand, prison officials must learn have to allow themselves to dehumanize these inmate within their own minds. This is because of the fear of creating a companion within the prison, only to be disappointed when they are put to death. In conclusion, we can see that capital punishment will be an issue that faces us and many generations to come. However, over a course of time society is making a slight move to stability and unification. Overall, we still have improvements to make about the process of capital punishment. However, we were taught as children to treat people as you would want to be treated.

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