“I don’t think you should support the death penalty to seek revenge. I don’t think that’s right. I think the reason to support the death penalty is because it saves other people’s lives.” -- President George Bush
Many who disagree with the death penalty believe it is immoral, discriminates, is very expensive, increases crime, and is only a way to carry out revenge. This, however, is not true. Capital punishment should be legal because it is moral, by not allowing criminals to roam the streets once again. It does not discriminate against those of color or the poor, and is actually less expensive than life imprisonment. The most important reason why the death penalty should be legal is because it deters crime.
In past centuries, the problem was how to find the most painful way to execute a criminal, not whether criminals should be executed or not. Killing alone wasn’t an acceptable way of punishment (McCuen 8). Nowadays, 97.5% of crimes go unpunished in the United States, and the 2.5% who are punished are not being treated harsh enough (90). The death penalty honors human dignity by treating the defendant as a free moral actor to control his own destiny for good or for ill; it does not treat him as an animal with no moral sense (Kurtz). Criminals who murder, rape, kidnap, torture others, or commit treason should not have the same punishment as crimes of lesser value (Kurtz). This point is backed up by the bible, where it is stated in the first chapter. In Genesis 9:6 it says, “Yes, you must execute anyone who murders another person, for to kill another person is to kill a living being made in God’s image”. It is also brought up again in Exodus 21:23-24 where it states, “But if any harm results, then the offender must be punis...
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...cans believe, capital punishment is moral, does not discriminate, is less expensive than life imprisonment, and helps keep crime rates low.
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Why should the death penalty be abolished? The death penalty should be abolished because of many reasons. Many people believe the saying, 'an eye for an eye'. But when will people realize that just because someone may have killed a loved one that the best thing for that person is to die also. People don't realize that they are putting the blood of another person life on their hands. This makes them just as guilty as the person who committed the crime: the only difference is that they didn't use weapon except their mouth to kill them. The death penalty should be abolished because it is racist, punishes the poor, condemns those who are innocent to death, and is a cruel punishment.
Eddlem, T. R. (2004). Ten Anti-Death Penalty Fallacies.The New American. 2002. Web. 10 June 2015.
...cibly take back what a robber took by force. It would be wrong to imprison someone that illegally imprisoned someone else. It would also be wrong for the police to drive over the speed limit to peruse someone who was speeding. The death penalty is a deserved and just punishment for murder. It does deter some murders, which saves an unknown number of innocent lives. These reasons are why, through all the controversy, three-quarters of Americans continue to support capital punishment.
Rubin, P. H. (2009). Don't scrap the death penalty. Criminology & Public Policy, 8(4), 853-859.
Cavanagh, Suzanne. “Capital Punishment: A Brief Overview”. CRS Report For Congress 95-505GOV (1995): 4. Sellin, Thorsten. The Penalty of Death. Sage Publishing Co.,1980.