In Support of Capital Punishment
I believe that capital punishment is a justifiable means of punishment for the most heinous crimes. In addition, the means of execution should not matter if the basic principle behind this form of justice can be justified by the specific crime. This is why my opinion is that any form of capital punishment in effect in the United States today is warranted and fair.
Recent executions have drawn a great deal of publicity to the subject of whether death by electrocution is "cruel and unusual". Cases such as that of Pedro Medina, whose mask caught on fire during the procedure, and Jesse Tafero, whose head caught on fire, provide examples of punishments gone wrong, and therefore punishments possibly being cruel and unusual. At this moment, all executions in Florida are on hold as the Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether or not the electric chair is cruel and unusual. However, there are just a few examples of botched cases, concentrated in Florida. Other evidence provided by those opposing the use of electrocution as a form of the death penalty is the fact that the 2,000 volts of electricity cause every muscle in the body to contract, something that should be very painful. However, even withstanding this argument, I believe that capital punishment in any form allowed by the U.S. Constitution at this moment is justified.
I believe that if every person is given one life, another person does not have the right to take an extra one. A murderer has forfeited the quota and his life is not his responsibility or fate any longer. The punishment is then decided by the society the murderer is a part of. The United States has adopted execution as a legal means of punishment and I agree with the method and the principle behind it. I believe that if lethal injections or electrocutions or any other forms of capital punishment were televised, or at least made more public, it would serve as a real deterrent. In other countries where severe punishment is more public, the rate of crime is tremendously lower. Although I understand that many atrocious crimes are committed in moments of passion or inebriation or chemical highs, many are committed as calculated events.
Many people are led to believe that the death penalty doesn’t occur very often and that very few people are actually killed, but in reality, it’s quite the opposite. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1,359 people have been executed as a result of being on death row since 1977 to 2013. Even though this form of punishment is extremely controversial, due to the fact that someone’s life is at stake, it somehow still stands to this very day as our ultimate form of punishment. Although capital punishment puts murderers to death, it should be abolished because killing someone who murdered another, does not and will not make the situation any better in addition to costing tax payers millions of dollars.
The American colonists’ disagreements with British policymakers lead to the colonist’s belief that the policies imposed on them violated of their constitutional rights and their colonial charters. These policies that were imposed on the colonist came with outcome like established new boundaries, new internal and external taxes, unnecessary and cruel punishment, and taxation without representation. British policymakers enforcing Acts of Parliament, or policies, that ultimately lead in the colonist civil unrest, outbreak of hostilities, and the colonist prepared to declare their independence.
After claiming their Rights and equality, Thomas Jefferson condemned the present King of Great Britain for his ignorance to their well being as a ruler, his tyrannical nature as a king, as well as his usurpation toward his colonies, and his unquenchable greed that terrorized his own people. Established by the Great Britain, the colonists were bound under it naturally, but after time they were seriously mistreated by their own governor, publishing high taxes and demanding unreasonably expensive fee to its army, disregarding of their (the colonists) situation. When Thomas Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence, almost the whole one-third of its length was to record of the Britain King’s evil doings, therefore, such ruler, “whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” Therefore, they must break free from this
After enduring “a long train of abuses and usurpations” the colonists decided to declare themselves free of British rule (para 2). Jefferson writes that given their “unalienable rights . . . Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”, “it is the Right of the People . . . to institute new Government”, one that will fairly represent them, to reestablish order (para 2). The Declaration of Independence does not seek to convince or even encourage action; rather, it aims to declare. There are no mistaking Jefferson’s words. The Colonists are tired of the mistreatment and they are effectively severing all “Allegiance to the British Crown, and . . . political connection” (para 23). The audience of The Declaration of Independence, the world, is specifically addressed twice. The first
“ No taxation without representation!” a group of colonists shouted as they roamed the streets surrounded by armed, red-coated British soldiers. Around the 1760’s, turmoil between the 13 colonies and Britain began. Britain no longer gave them their rights, respected the amount of time between taxations, or gave them a say in any law that applied to them. Although there are reasonable things that Britain did, American colonists were justified in waging war and breaking away. If Britain was going to bombard them with taxation and laws in the span of a few short years or not present them with a representative in Parliament, then the colonists had every right to become their own self governing country.
Assume for a moment that you are an American colonist who is attempting to break away from the imperialistic power of Great Britain. During the time of Great Britain’s reign over the colonies, you feel as though Great Britain has progressed into a mother country that is both unfair and untrustworthy to the colonists of America. Although there may be numerous explanations as to why the colonists transformed into revolutionaries against the mother country of Great Britain, there is one recognizable reason that drove the colonists towards independence. The colonists of America hated the implementation of taxes on the colonies, which drove the revolutionaries to act out against Great Britain. Some relevant ways the colonists approached their disgust with the taxes is through documents, events, and prominent key figures.
Now, able to express their grievances and frustrations, the Colonies were able to essentially “stick it to the man” against Britain. Thomas Jefferson writes how Great Britain’s king had “impos[ed] taxes on [them] without [their] consent,” and “depriv[ed] [them] of the benefits of trial by jury.“ He goes on to say that the king had abolish[ed] [their] most valuable laws; and alter[ed] fundamentally the forms of [their] governments.” (Baym 342) This list of complaints goes on and on. The king took away all of their fundamental rights, and the colonists were fed up. Thomas Jefferson says that he didn’t just take away their rights, but he took away their basic human rights, and “waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him.” (Baym 343) These are very strong words from Thomas Jefferson, but they reflect the way these colonists felt. They were angry, and they had every right to
In the third section of the Declaration Of Independence states all the wrongs the people thought the king of England did to them. The colonists thought the king was treating them unfairly. For example he refused to approve laws that would help the colonists. He also made them pay taxes without their consent along with forbidding trade with other countries. They tried to talk to the king about their complaints but he ignored them. All of this made the colonists very angry. In this section the colonists write that they have had it with Britain’s Tyranny Rule.
The death penalty is inhumane in my opinion, and I am highly against it. I am all for the end of the death penalty.
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“The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Second Continental Congress, states the reasons the British colonies of North America sought independence in July of 1776 (“SparkNotes”).” The text document opens with a preamble explaining why the thirteen colonies have overthrown their ruler and chosen to take their place as a separate nation in the world. Governments should never infringe on both the idea that all men are created equal and certain unalienable rights of citizens such as the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. When a government fails to protect their unalienable rights, it is not only their right, but their duty to overthrown that government. After that, the people should
The death penalty is something that many people do not have a clear decision on. Many people support the death penalty, while others wish for the death penalty to be abolished, and there are some that support the death penalty, but only in certain cases. My personal opinion on the death penalty is it should be administered only in cases of particularly
I believe that capital punishment is necessary to ensure justice. Certain criminals commit crimes so great that they warrant death. The emotional tolls of the people around the victim can be alleviated by the death of the perpetrator. Prisons are inherently difficult to run, and capital punishment reduces the efforts that must be expended to successfully manage a prison. Capital punishment reduces crime in the way that it offers an incentive great enough to prevent offenses such as mass murder. Capital punishment holds much support in its favor, and I believe that it should remain.
Some even claim that it is cruel and unusual punishment. I would like to shed light on the issue and inform everyone as to why we should keep the death penalty and possibly even use it more than we do now. First of all, it is hard for anyone to argue that we already use the death penalty too much because facts say that we hardly use it at all. Since 1967, there has been one execution for every 1,600 murders. There have been approximately 560,000 murders and 358 executions between 1967 and 1996(UCR and BJS).
I believe that under certain circumstances that capital punishment should be allowed because if someone is going to commit mass murder they should pay with the ultimate human right which is of their life. This topic has been widely thought of in the world with a few philosophers really encompassing my views. Those are the views of Ernest Van Den Haag and Bruce Fein. Philosophers who oppose our views are such like Justice William Brennan and Hugo Adam Bedau. I will prove my point using the ideas of deterrence and morality of the issue of capital punishment. If the government would show that if you kill someone there will be a consequence for their actions and that the consequence would be equal to what they have done. The population will see that it isn’t worth taking another humans life. If we were to kill people that are committing these mass killings of innocent people there would not be as many criminals around. Therefore the streets would be a place people wouldn’t be afraid of anymore.