The Truth Behind Capital Punishment

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Capital Punishment, the governments legalized form of murder, represents the cruelty America has to offer. It is paradoxical that the government punishes crimes of murder with the same criminal act that these wrongdoers committed themselves. What message does it show the world if our government, or the respected representatives of the American public, resort to the same level as the ones who commit these heinous crimes? Not only does capital punishment prove as a ineffective means of a deterrent, it creates a sense of false retribution, and also contradicts moral beliefs, economic reasoning, U.S. Constitution, and even discriminates against the accused in the flawed judicial system.
Many believe that capital punishment serves as a deterrent, which is something that is intended to discourage someone from doing something. Isaac Ehrlich conducted a study on the deterrence effects of capital punishment, analyzing U.S. time series data on homicides and execution between 1933 and 1969. He found that each execution resulted in eight fewer homicides. These shocking statistics encouraged many to further research his findings, and what they found was simply that his research was fundamentally flawed. At the same time this study was conducted, there happened to be a decrease in homicide across all states, including those that never had the death penalty to begin with. In reality, there is no real way to study how capital punishment deters crime unless someone takes an unethical approach, which should remain impossible in our country (Donohue 2).
On the contrary, it is possible to study how capital punishment does not serve as an effective deterrent. With the statistics gathered from the FBI's crime in the United Sta...

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...te; if the American government continues to murder for the "retribution" of the victim and for the false closure of the parents, nothing good is bound to come.
Murder is the worst crime a human can commit; but murder remains legal in America, or for the American government at least. The truth is, capital punishment should be abolished and replaced with the more suitable life without parole option on the grounds that it does not deter crime, it does not justify murder, it is not in sync with the United States constitution, and does not judge the convicts fairly. The sentence to life of prison without parole ensures that no more innocent lives will be taken by the ones who chose to lead a life of murder, and remains an affordable, humane punishment for these criminals. Death is an unbearable, irreversible consequence that should be avoided by any means necessary.

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