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Capital Punishment And The Death Penalty

Decent Essays

Capital Punishment Imagine your having a normal morning, eating breakfast doing your normal routine. Suddenly your phone rings and when you answer you hear the worst news possible. One of your family members has just been murdered in cold blood. You cry, mourn, then become angry. You attend the court hearing and you sit less than 20 feet away from the murderer. Do you truly believe this person deserves to live? Or should they face a punishment that is equal to their crime? Some may say Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty is an issue that has the United States divided. There are many people who both support and oppose capital punishment. As of July 1, 2015 there are thirty-one states that uphold capital punishment and nineteen states that have abolished it (Death Penalty Information Center). I support capital punishment and believe that it should be upheld throughout the nation. For reasons such as deterrence, restitution, and ethics. When a state upholds capital punishment its residents are greatly deterred from committing crimes of murder. Knowing that death is a possible punishment, and most people fear death, people are less likely to engage in a murderous act. Ernest van den Haag, a professor at Fordham University, writes about the issue of deterrence: “…capital punishment is likely to deter more than other punishments because people fear death more than anything else. They fear most death deliberately inflicted by law and scheduled by the

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