The Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

1070 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects of capital punishment

Murder is wrong no matter what caused a person to do it. Since childhood hopefully we all have been taught this truth. Ask yourself then what is capital punishment or whats the death penalty? In its simplest form, capital punishment is defined as one person taking the life of another. Coincidentally, that is the definition of murder. There are 36 states with the death penalty, and they must change. These states need to abolish it on the grounds that it carries a dangerous risk of punishing the innocent, is unethical and barbaric, and is an ineffective deterrent of crime versus the alternative of life in prison without parole.

Capital punishment is the most ­irreparable crime governments perpetrate without consequence, and it must be abolished. …show more content…

We consider that barbaric. Yet we continue to take life as a means of protecting life.” No person, government-affiliated or not, has the right to decide if another human is worthy or unworthy of life. Our natural rights as humans, which cannot be taken away by the government, include the right to life. Humans are not cold metal coins that lose value; no act, no matter how heinous, can make a person less of a human being. However, for most it is easy to ­forget that each of the 1,099 executed since 1977 are fellow humans, not just numbers.

According to Amnesty International, “The death penalty violates the right to life.” Capital punishment contradicts our moral beliefs and claims of a fair and just government. The U.S. must join its political ­allies – including Europe, Scandinavia, Russia, South Africa, and most of Latin America – that have abolished the death …show more content…

Losing a loved one, no matter how that person is lost, is unbearable, irrevocable, and shattering. Pain like this is shocking and the victim’s family holds onto the hope that the execution of the murderer will bring relief and closure. Nevertheless, when execution day arrives, the pain is not eased. No relief can be gained, for their pain is an unavoidable, natural process of life. Victims’ families have founded such groups as the Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation and The Journey of Hope, which oppose the death penalty. They ­believe that they are different from those who have taken their loved ones and they demonstrate their ­difference by refusing to sink to a murderer’s

Show More
Related

  • Dead Death Closure

    1281 Words  | 3 Pages

    The promise of closure seems like an illusion more than a reality; the idea of it suffers from the assumption that the murder victims’ families’ desire that the offender be executed in order to feel liberated from grief and all the pain that the criminal has caused. According to Berns, closure is something many families of victims’ pursue, but do not often achieve and it has become a protruding cultural narrative for defining the needs of the victims’ and also the broader concept of justice. Those that are for capital punishment and those who are oppose it don’t really have a true definition for the word and argue whether it exists or not. There are many arguments on how to achieve c...

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment Should Not Be Instituted

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout America’s history, capital punishment, or the death penalty, has been used to punish criminals for murder and other capital crimes. In the early 20th century, numerous people would gather for public executions. The media described these events gruesome and barbaric (“Infobase Learning”). People began to wonder if the capital punishment was really constitutional.

    Read More

  • Why the Federal Government Must Abolish the Death Penalty

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    The United States is among the minority of nations that still practice capital punishment. Its support of the death penalty puts it in the company of nations which routinely violate human rights- countries such as China, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. In fact, United States is the only western democratic country that has not abolished the death penalty (http://karisable.com). Out of 195 nations in the world, 113 have outlawed capital punishment either in law or practice. Additionally, with the increasing number of executions, international organizations such as the European Union have expressed their deep concern about violation of human rights in the United States. Furthermore, Article 3 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) adopted by the UN in 1948, prohibits the death penalty (http://www.amnestyusa.org). If we don’t follow the norms established across the community of nations, we stand to lose our moral autho...

    Read More

  • Death Penalty is Legal in 32 States

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, capital punishment is an unjustifiable act used to punish criminals. The death penalty is not only expensive, but it also lowers our morality. Desmond Tutu once said, "To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice." America is meant to be a country that symbolizes justice and the act of the government killing people, regardless of whatever reason, contradicts that. Therefore, the United States should outlaw capital punishment and convert to an alternative punishment, such as life imprisonment without parole, where the criminal can spend the rest of his life locked in a cell and living with what they did, to become the justifiable country it’s known as.

    Read More

  • Death Penalty in the U.S

    1231 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this paper I will argue for the moral permissibility of the death penalty and I am fairly confident that when the case for capital punishment is made properly, its appeal to logic and morality is compelling. The practice of the death penalty is no longer as wide-spread as it used to be throughout the world; in fact, though the death penalty was nearly universal in past societies, only 71 countries world-wide still officially permit the death penalty (www.infoplease.com); the U.S. being among them. Since colonial times, executions have taken place in America, making them a part of its history and tradition. Given the pervasiveness of the death penalty in the past, why do so few countries use the death penalty, and why are there American states that no longer sanction its use? Is there a moral wrong involved in the taking of a criminal’s life? Of course the usual arguments will be brought up, but beyond the primary discourse most people do not go deeper than their “gut feeling” or personal convictions. When you hear about how a family was ruthlessly slaughtered by a psychopathic serial killer most minds instantly feel that this man should be punished, but to what extent? Would it be just to put this person to death?

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment: Justified?

    3412 Words  | 7 Pages

    There are wide and divergent opinions on the United States’ Supreme Court decisions on capital punishment. While proponents of capital punishment allege that it can be applied as with the existence of sufficient due process, others contend that human life is irreplaceable and that “every person has the right to have their life respected” (Oppenheim, “Capital Punishment in the United States”). While capital punishment has phased in and out of the United States’ criminal justice system in the past few decades, current trends seem to fall out of favor with the death penalty. As Snell indicates, by yearend of 2011, there were 3,082 inmates held across 35 states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons under the death sentence, where 9 states executed 43 inmates in both 2011 and 2012 (“Capital Punishment, 2011 – Statistical Tables”). In order to gain a deeper understanding and enhanced projection of the death penalty development, it is prudent to first examining historical accounts of cases that have been decided in favor or against the capital punishment in the United States.

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment: A Perspective from Death Row

    1036 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the first place, Capital Punishment is the only real punishment that fits the crime of murder and

    Read More

  • The Death Penalty

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Death Penalty has positive effects on murder victim’s families. Losing a loved one from old age, or sickness is a time of suffering that almost everyone will experience, but losing a loved one because they were brutally murdered is unexpected and much harder to overcome. Some family members take years before they fully recover from losing someone, but the death penalty can help a family work towards a quicker recovery (Messerlini 1). The murderer will not be around to haunt the victim’s family therefore, providing them with closure and a sense of safety. The major role that the death pe...

    Read More

  • The Death Penalty

    1561 Words  | 4 Pages

    Almost all nations in the world either have the death sentence or have had it at one time. It was used in most cases to punish those who broke the laws or standards that were expected of them. Since the death penalty wastes tax money, is inhumane, and is largely unnecessary it should be abolished in every state across the United States. The use of the death penalty puts the United States in the same category as countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia which are two of the world’s worst human rights violators (Friedman 34). Lauri Friedman quotes, “Executions simply inject more violence into an already hostile American society.”

    Read More

  • The Ethics of Capital Punishment

    1503 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the final analysis we see that it is hard to prove either side. For both arguments can become faulty by debate. Murder no matter how it is done is wrong, how we go about prosecuting those who act against our fellow kind is in the hands of our legal system. However, I do not want them on the streets where the people I love are, nor do I believe that a murderer can change. A person who is capable of killing another human being without cause will never fit into society and thus should not be a part of it.

    Read More

  • The Ethics of Capital Punishment

    1129 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many people that still believe that Capital Punishment is the best way to go to punish people who murder and commit other drastic crimes. I believe that murders should have the Death Penalty imposed to punish them for taking someone. else's life, although everyone has their own opinion and that is fine. to have a different opinion. Whether Capital Punishment is ethical is also up to your own beliefs, and I hope this essay has given you an insight into Capital Punishment and help you determine your own.

    Read More

  • The Death Denalty, An Annotated Bibliography To The Death Penalty

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    Eaton, Judy, Tony Christensen. “Closure and its myths: Victims’ families, the death penalty, and the closure argument.” International Review of Victimology, Vol 20(3).Sep, 2014. : pp. 327-343.

    Read More

  • Death Penalty Essay

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    Capital punishment can be a difficult topic to approach because people tend to have extreme views on it. The death penalty is a benefit to society; it deters potential criminals as well as serves as retribution to criminals, and is in no way immoral. In general, the anti death penalty arguments often do not hold up when examined more thoughtfully. It is important that the nation is united on this issue, rather than having the it divided. The death penalty can be an incredibly advantageous apparatus in sentencing criminals that have committed some of the worst crimes known to society. It is crucial that we begin to pass legislation making capital punishment legal throughout the United States so that justice can be served properly.

    Read More

  • Capital Punishment Should be Abolished

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    Capital punishment is now illegal in many countries, like the United Kingdom, France and Germany, but it is also legal in many other countries, such as China and the USA. There is a large debate on whether or not capital punishment should be illegal all over the world, as everyone has a different opinion on it. In this essay, I will state arguments for and against the death penalty, as well as my own opinion: capital punishment should be illegal everywhere. Firstly, many believe capital punishment should be reinstated in the United Kingdom because of the financial cost of prisoners. Annually, it costs about £26,978 per prisoner when they are in jail.

    Read More

  • Death Penalty Position Paper

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    Proponents of the death penalty are right to argue that capital punishment does provide a sense of “closure” to those who are faced with the tragedy of losing a loved one due to homicide, but they exaggerate when they claim that this is the only means by which murderers receive just punishment for their crimes. Advocates of the death penalty fail to recognize that there are alternative methods – such as psychotherapy – that are able to replace the barbaric method of the death penalty.

    Read More

More about The Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

Open Document