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Capital punishment as a suitable punishment
Argument for being against the death penalty
Capital punishment as a suitable punishment
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Capital punishment (the death penalty) is a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. There are different opinions of the death penalty. Some oppose it and some agree with it. The death penalty has been regarded as a deterrent for murder. In an article called ”Working for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, it reveals “Death Penalty Focus reports on November 20th, 2008, that many victims of crime have realized a life for a life is no way to ease their pain”. (Michell). Basically, Michell is saying that Death Penalty Focus revealed that the person committing the crime can be a sociopath and served time in a mental health facility. Although the death penalty may seem of concern to only a small group of people, it should in fact concern anyone who cares about life. The death penalty is one form of punishment. In the USA, it costs more to give someone the death penalty than to keep them in prison for life. The families of the victim look for closure. Capital punishment would not bring a life back, even to comfort the victims’ family. Who is right or wrong?
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) works to abolish the death penalty nationally through direct representation. They believe the death penalty violates a person’s right to due process of law. The death penalty is racially biased and punishes the poor. According to the ACLU, if you kill a white person, you are more than likely to get the death penalty than any other race. It is not a deterrent to crime. Putting someone to death does not make us any safer. In an article called “Death Penalty”, it reveals “Reasons Against Capital Punishment” reports on December 14, 2011 that according to statistics, the death penalty has not been eff...
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...Michell, S. (2008, November 20). Working for alternatives to the death penalty. Retrieved from http://www.deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=301
Pakhare, J. (2011, December 11). Reasons against capital punishment (death penalty). Retrieved From http://www.buzzle.com/articles/reasons-against-capital-punishment-death-penalty.html
Koukl, G. (2013, March 09). Reasons for capital punishment. Retrieved from http://www.str.org/articles/reasons-for-capital-punishment https://www.aclu.org/capital-punishment http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/gallup-poll-who-supports-death-penalty
Eckholm, E. (2013, December 19). South Carolina inmate released after nearly 30 years on the death row. Retrieved from
Sadd, L. (2013, January 09). U.S. death penalty support stable at 63%. Retrieved from http://w.deathpenaltyinfo.org/http://www.gallup.com/poll/159770/death-penalty-support-stable.aspx
“Exonerated Death Row Inmate Speaks Out.” Dec. 2003. The New Abolitionist. 13 Apr. 2007 < http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/newab030/06_Exonerated.html>.
The death penalty, as administered by states based on their individual laws, is considered capital punishment, the purpose of which is to penalize criminals convicted of murder or other heinous crimes (Fabian). The death penalty issue has been the focus of much controversy in recent years, even though capital punishment has been a part of our country's history since the beginning. Crimes in colonial times, such as murder and theft of livestock were dealt with swiftly and decisively ("The Death Penalty..."). Criminals were hanged shortly after their trial, in public executions. This practice was then considered just punishment for those crimes. Recently though, the focus of the death penalty debate has been on moral and legal issues. The murderers of today's society can be assured of a much longer life even after conviction, with the constraints of the appeals process slowing the implementation of their death sentence. In most cases, the appeal process lasts several years, during which time criminals enjoy comfortable lives. They have television, gym facilities, and the leisure time to attend free college-level classes that most American citizens must struggle to afford. Foremost, these murderers have the luxury of time, something their victims ran out of the moment their paths crossed. It is time this country realized the only true justice for these criminals is in the form of the death penalty. The death penalty should be administered for particularly heinous crimes.
Radelet, Michael L., updated by the Death Penalty Information Center. Post-Furman Botched Executions. The Death Penalty Information Center
Narration: Opponents of the death penalty believe it is an ineffective way to stop crime and that there are better ways to punish crime and keep society safe.
The death penalty, ever since it was established, has created a huge controversy all throughout the world. Ever since the death penalty was created, there have been people who supported the death penalty and those who wanted to destroy it. When the death penalty was first created the methods that were used were gruesome and painful, it goes against the Eighth Amendment that was put in place many years later. The methods they used were focused on torturing the people and putting them through as much pain as possible. In today’s society the death penalty is quick and painless, it follows the Eighth Amendment. Still there are many people who are against capital punishment. The line of whether to kill a man or women for murder or to let him or her spend the rest one’s life in prison forever will never be drawn in a staight.
Lewis, Neil A. “Death Sentences Decline, And Experts Offer Reasons.” The New York Times, Late Edition. New York, New York: Dec. 15, 2006. Print.
D’Alembe, Talbot “Understanding the Death Penalty Study Commission Report” Raising the Bar in Capital Cases. 34.2 ( 2007): n.pag. Web. 24 Jul 2014.
Throughout the United States violent crime has been a persistent problem that state governments are constantly trying to contain, if not eliminate. When a crime arises to the severity of the death penalty many times people instantly jump to the support of pro capital punishment , thinking that the accused should be put to death for killing another person. Currently updated as of 2011, there are 34 death penalty states and 16 states that have abolished the death penalty. In deed, very few issues are as polarizing as that of capital punishment. Support for the death penalty crosses all lines of race, socio-economic status, and religion. Given the right climate and circumstances, anybody can be quick to judge, convict, and condemn. Aside from the vengeful feeling of ‘an eye for an eye’, people are in favor of the death penalty because they feel it deters criminals and its less taxing on our penal system. However, what they fail to realize is that the death penalty has not been found to do either of those things, in fact, states without the death penalty have had consistently lower crime rates. Likewise, people are not correctly aware of what the results of the death penalty have really produced, or that life in prison without parole has been proven to be the more effective and economical path to go. The death penalty has proven to be more costly and a failure as a deterrent to crime.
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).
Tucker, William. "Society Needs the Death Penalty to Deter Murderers." Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Shenendehowa Public Library. 24 Nov. 2003
“The case Against the Death Penalty.” aclu.org. American Civil Liberties Union, 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2013
Fein, Bruce. "Individual Rights and Responsibility - The Death Penalty, But Sparingly." Speech. American Bar Association. Feb. 2003. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
The death penalty has always been and continues to be a very controversial issue. People on both sides of the issue argue endlessly to gain further support for their movements. While opponents of capital punishment are quick to point out that the United States remains one of the few Western countries that continue to support the death penalty, Americans are also more likely to encounter violent crime than citizens of other countries (Brownlee 31). Justice mandates that criminals receive what they deserve. The punishment must fit the crime. If a burglar deserves imprisonment, then a murderer deserves death (Winters 168). The death penalty is necessary and the only punishment suitable for those convicted of capital offenses. Seventy-five percent of Americans support the death penalty, according to Turner, because it provides a deterrent to some would-be murderers and it also provides for moral and legal justice (83). "Deterrence is a theory: It asks what the effects are of a punishment (does it reduce the crime rate?) and makes testable predictions (punishment reduces the crime rate compared to what it would be without the credible threat of punishment)", (Van Den Haag 29). The deterrent effect of any punishment depends on how quickly the punishment is applied (Workshop 16). Executions are so rare and delayed for so long in comparison th the number of capitol offenses committed that statistical correlations cannot be expected (Winters 104). The number of potential murders that are deterred by the threat of a death penalty may never be known, just as it may never be known how many lives are saved with it. However, it is known that the death penalty does definitely deter those who are executed. Life in prison without the possibility of parole is the alternative to execution presented by those that consider words to be equal to reality. Nothing prevents the people sentenced in this way from being paroled under later laws or later court rulings. Furthermore, nothing prevents them from escaping or killing again while in prison. After all, if they have already received the maximum sentence available, they have nothing to lose. For example, in 1972 the U.S. Supreme Court banished the death penalty. Like other states, Texas commuted all death sentences to life imprisonment. After being r...
Costanzo, Mark. Just Revenge: Costs and Consequences of the Death Penalty. New York: St. Martin's, 2001. Print.
The death penalty is an economically wasteful method of punishment. It has been calculated that “if the death penalty was extinguished…we could save $11 million a year” (Locke). While this may not seem a significant sum, ...