The Effects of the Death Penalty

The Effects of the Death Penalty

The effects of the death penalty can be divided into three main

groups: public safety, deterrence, and retribution. The death penalty

is the judicially ordered execution of a prisoner as a punishment for

a serious crime, most often first-degree murder. Prisoners who have

been sentenced to death are usually kept separate from other prisoners

pending their execution. However, isolation and eventually, the death

of a convicted inmate, play an important role on public safety,

deterrence, and retribution in the future.

The principle of deterrence is based on the idea that the threat of

punishment must be harsh enough to counter the benefits or pleasures

that the criminal would receive from the illegal act. In addition, the

punishment must be administered swiftly so that potential criminals

will see a clear cause-and-effect relationship between the two. The

most convincing argument for the deterrent effect of the death penalty

comes from the commonsense belief that people fear death more than

life in prison. "Once in prison, virtually all convicted murderers

seek to avoid execution by appealing to reduce their sentence to 'life

in prison' (Bender)." For example, in the Washington Post, a witness

to a murder had been executed hours after testifying, so a second

witness to the same murder, Arlin Budoo, decided he'd rather face life

imprisonment for contempt of court rather than the strong possibility

of death. His refusal forced the U.S. attorney's office to strike a

plea bargain with the defendant and drop first- degree murder charges,

at least temporarily, for a sentence of life in prison without parole.

...

... middle of paper ...

...ng is more remarkable in the evolution

of a community than the growing regard for human life. A community is

held to be civilized, or not, in exact proportion to the safety of the

common citizen. When the life of an individual is unjustly taken by

another individual, the horror of the community for such an act cannot

be adequately and proportionally manifested except as the community

surmounts sentiment and exacts the life of the killer in payment -

after a trial, where all possible human excuses and palliations have

been alleged, tested, and found insufficient (Calder)." For people who

truly value public safety, there is no substitute. Capital punishment

not only forever bars the murderer from killing again, it also

prevents parole boards and criminal rights activists from giving the

criminal the chance to kill again.