Punishing Criminals by Death Will Deter Future Crimes...or Not?

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Outline The paper introduces the assumptions that people have that punishing criminals by death will deter future crimes. The paragraph further explains how human behavior is related to acts of crime. The essay gives an example of Canada. How crime was not deterred by the imposition of death penalty as a tool used by the system of justice. The essay states some of the research that has been conducted with the intention of proving that capital punishment can deter crimes. This paper points out the effects and imposition of capital punishments on criminal activities. The paper finally makes a conclusion on the issue of capital punishment as deterrence. Introduction Many people assume that punishment by death will prevent crime, but if that was true then crimes would not have been committed in the dread that the offenders will be prosecuted and put to death. History and behavior of man has revealed that normal human instinct does not prevent people from committing crimes because if it did capital punishment would never have to be used. People would have been informed about the consequences of breaking the law and everyone would be in fear of committing crimes. Unfortunately when people commit crimes they seem to not care of the consequences; so whether capital punishment is in force or not crimes are going to be committed. This paper therefore presents a strong argument that the capital punishment does not deter people from committing crimes The justice system does not have to use punishment by death as a tool which will deter crime. Canada is a good example of where statistics have proved that punishment by death does not deter crime effectively. In the year 1975, the number of homicides committed was 721 a... ... middle of paper ... ...rg, J. S., Feinberg, P. D., & Huxley, A. (2010). Ethics for a brave new world. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway. Wilson, R. (2013). Capital punishment. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Milward, R. (2012). Kimberly's capital punishment. London: Faber and Faber. Hess, K. M., Orthmann, C. M. H., & Drowns, R. W. (2010). Juvenile justice. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Rogers, A. (2008). Murder and the death penalty in Massachusetts. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Nagin, D., Pepper, J., National Research Council (U.S.)., National Research Council (U.S.)., National Research Council (U.S.)., & National Research Council (U.S.). (2012). Deterrence and the death penalty. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Mandery, E. J., & Mandery, E. J. (2011). Capital punishment in America: A balanced examination. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. .

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