The Pros and Cons of Capital Punishment
Since the mid 1900’s, capital punishment has brought many individuals into many diverse view points throughout the years. Capital punishment is a way of punishing a convict by killing him or her because of the crime he or she committed. Capital punishment will always have its pros and cons. There are opponents who absolutely disagree with capital punishment. And then there are advocates who support the idea. In the advocates view point, capital punishment is a way to minimize the threat in the world today. In the opponent’s point of view, opponents disagree with capital punishment, because of the high expenses it brings to the states. Also, opponents argue that capital punishment sentences should not be allowed because innocent convicts are put to death.
Advocates believe that capital punishment helps keeps the crime rates down. They believe that once a criminal has committed a crime than the criminal is bound to commit another crime in the near future. Many convicted murderers usually have a background of arrest and/or conducted previous crimes. This has been proven when states that do not carry capital punishment laws have had convicts in prison for ten to twenty years and have let the convict free after their sentence is over. But when they are free from prison, they are likely to commit another similar crime over again and are sent back into prison for another ten year sentence. For example, New York is one state that does not have the capital punishment law, and when the convicts are free they commit the same crimes again. It is proven that New York has one of the highest crime rates in the United States, and it continues to increase. Therefore, advocates believe ...
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...d thing for the government to have capital punishment laws so that it can help protect their citizens so these criminals do not come back into the public and commit the same crimes again. Also so that it can help keep the crime rates down and hopefully continue to decrease over the years. Opponents believe that the capital punishment laws are unnecessary and should not stay in place. They dislike spending millions of dollars a year to execute their own citizens. Hence, opponents find it a disgrace when citizens of other countries come view the executions of Americans because it shows that Americans do not value human life enough or are moral. It’s also a shame that there are many innocent inmates on death row that are forced to plead guilty or wait for their death sentence. Capital punishment will continue to have its good value and it’s con.
Capital punishment in the United States is a highly debated topic. Arguments that want to get rid of this method of punishment usually mention the many problems that capital punishment is plagued with. The death penalty has many issues that cannot be resolved, and since these issues can’t be solved, the death penalty should be abolished. “The irrevocable nature of the death penalty renders it an unsustainable and indefensible remedy in an imperfect justice system.” (Evans 3) Even though the death penalty has been around since the 18th century, capital punishment has many issues such as wrongful convictions and high costs, proving it should be eliminated.
“A Death in Texas” by Steve Earle is the true-life story of a friendship that occurred over ten
On the morning of April 19, 1995 a former soldier, named Timothy McVeigh, drove a truck outside of the Alfred P. Murrah government building in downtown Oklahoma City. Inside the truck was a homemade explosive device. McVeigh got out of the truck and walked to his getaway car. At precisely 9:02 a.m. the truck bomb exploded. Killing 168 people, including 19 children. Over 600 people were injured and close to 300 surrounding buildings took damage. This attack at Oklahoma City was the worst terrorist attack on American soil, until 9/11. Six years after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building McVeigh was executed at “United States Penitentiary” in Terre Haute, Indiana. At 7:14 a.m. on July 11, 2001 McVeigh was put to death by lethal injection. This terrorist was put to death and got the justice that was deserved. Now the American justice system is flawed especially when it comes to the death penalty, but
An inmate by the name of Gary Graham drew several protestors to a Huntsville unit in the year 2000; they were there in opposition to Graham’s execution. This day finally came after nineteen years on death row and four appeals. With him being a repeat offender he was not new to this side of the justice system, but after being put in prison he became a political activist who worked to abolish the death penalty. People who stood against his execution argued that his case still had reasonable doubt, he was rehabilitating himself, and his punishment would cause major harm to his family. Aside from that you have the advocates arguing that you have to set example for others, so you must carry out the punishment that was given, and while the execution may harm the offender’s family it will give the victims’ families closure for his crimes.
Based on public opinion and facts of this side, “the death penalty process consumes tremendous amounts of money and resources and fails to deter criminal activity” (Ballaro and Cushman, 2016). The people do not want to see tax money squandered on such a fruitless endeavor, instead send the person to jail for life and be done with it. The people believe this view even more so, because of the belief that putting a murderer to death is, in fact, a hypocritical act and makes a murder out of the system and all who played a role in doing so, making the prosecutors no better than the convicted. While the death penalty prevents one murderer from killing again, it created countless more proving that the capital punishment is a useless deterrent all in all. This point of view and belief is the opposing side’s view to capital punishment’s acting as a
However, there are numerous drawbacks that outweigh the benefits, bearing in mind that innocent people die from the death penalty, families go through more pain than closure, goes against the 8th amendment, and used improbably on undermined people. Therefore, Americans shouldn’t advocate for the death penalty, unless their prepared to pull the trigger or insert the needle to the prisoner. Furthermore, capital punishment has resulted to more damage than resoling the crimes that criminals have committed. Whether you agree or disagree, your decision will lead to an impact to the death
In this paper I will ask three people four different questions about their views on the death penalty. The first question I asked was “Why do you feel the death penalty is wrong?” Question number two, “Does the death penalty help protect the public and discourage crime?” Question number three, “Do you consider the death penalty cruel and unusual?” The final question, “Is the death penalty economically justifiable and cost effective?”
Capital punishment is one of the most controversial subjects in the world today. Many are advocates for it, many are advocates against it. It is either viewed as justice for a victim, or as playing God and taking a life when you do not have that authority. Over 14O countries have abolished the death penalty which leaves one-third of the world still practicing it today. A few
Capital punishment or the death penalty is a legal process whereby a person is put to death by the state as a punishment for a crime. The judicial decree that someone be punished in this manner is a death sentence, while the actual process of killing the person is an execution. Capital punishment does not demonstrate the wrongfulness of killing by killing; it demonstrates the wrongfulness of killing by executing convicted murderers after a fair trial. Laws are a set of rules implemented by human to guide, enforce and discipline among the society which made by human, not by the God. Breaking laws and awarding punishments against the conduct is also equally done by the human. The death penalty violates the right to life which happens to be the
Over many centuries, the act of killing has been very controversial as it is argued to be barbaric but at the same time, a part of life. Many will disagree on whether killing can be even be justified, let alone condemned and permitted. Killing a person as punishment for the same offence is difficult to justify and essentially says that killing is allowed. Although the practice of the death penalty exists still, many societies argue how it is barbaric and is part of the past. In Canada however, the topic comes up fairly often as the United States still practices capital punishment in many states. Extensive research shows that capital punishment is unethical, has many flaws, and has a much larger cost than imprisonment. Therefore, through an examination of the ethical relationship, all the possible errors, and the costs, it is evident that
or hundreds of years people have considered capital punishment a deterrence of crime. Seven hundred and five individuals have died since 1976, by means of capital punishment; twenty-two of these executions have already occurred this year (Death Penalty Information Center). Many U.S. citizens who strongly support the death penalty believe that capital punishment remains the best way to protect society from convicted killers. I, however, disagree; I do not feel that execution best punishes criminals for their acts. Instead, in my opinion, the administration of the death penalty should end because it does not deter crime; it risks the death of an innocent person, it costs millions of dollars, it inflicts unreasonable pain; and most importantly it violates moral principles.
The debate over capital punishment in the criminal justice system is intense Capital punishment is the killing of someone authorized by law for committing a heinous crime. It is currently practiced in thirty-two states. While both sides have a valid viewpoint concerning this issue, the bottom line is that capital punishment is not a deterrent to heinous crimes committed throughout the United States. Factors such as race and socioeconomic status also affect the outcome of the person who committed the crime. Using capital punishment as a means of deterrence to prevent these crimes is not an effective solution.
Capital punishment has been a part of public debate in the United States for as long as I can remember. Proponents say it prevents crime; opponents claim it is cruel and unusual punishment. Social science has been unable to either conclusively support or disprove the theory that capital punishment deters crime (Schonebaum, 2002), mirroring the mixed emotions of many Americans on the subject. Historically, execution has been a significant form of punishment for deviance from social norms and for criminal behavior. (Schaefer, 2009, p. 175) The most powerful argument for the deterrent effect of the death penalty comes from the commonsense notion that people fear death more than life in prison.
When someone is legally convicted of a capital crime, it is possible for their punishment to be execution. The Death Penalty has been a controversial topic for many years. Some believe the act of punishing a criminal by execution is completely inhumane, while others believe it is a necessary practice needed to keep our society safe. In this annotated bibliography, there are six articles that each argue on whether or not the death penalty should be illegalized. Some authors argue that the death penalty should be illegal because it does not act as a deterrent, and it negatively effects the victim’s families. Other scholar’s state that the death penalty should stay legalized because there is an overcrowding in prisons and it saves innocent’s lives. Whether or not the death penalty should be
Americans have argued over the death penalty since the early days of our country. In the United States only 38 states have capital punishment statutes. As of year ended in 1999, in Texas, the state had executed 496 prisoners since 1930. The laws in the United States have change drastically in regards to capital punishment. An example of this would be the years from 1968 to 1977 due to the nearly 10 year moratorium. During those years, the Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment violated the Eight Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. However, this ended in 1976, when the Supreme Court reversed the ruling. They stated that the punishment of sentencing one to death does not perpetually infringe the Constitution. Richard Nixon said, “Contrary to the views of some social theorists, I am convinced that the death penalty can be an effective deterrent against specific crimes.”1 Whether the case be morally, monetarily, or just pure disagreement, citizens have argued the benefits of capital punishment. While we may all want murders off the street, the problem we come to face is that is capital punishment being used for vengeance or as a deterrent.