Capital Punishment: Just or Unjust?

Capital punishment has been a controversial issue that still exists in America today. Capital punishment is a law passed by the government to punish any individual that has been convicted of committed a heinous crime. The death penalty has been a method used throughout history as punishment for criminals. The punishment also known as the death penalty is a scheduled execution, which would be done with lethal injection. The reason why this punishment is chosen is because when crimes are committed that shock the conscience, the immediate emotional reaction is to retaliate with severe punishment (Schnurbush 2016). The death penalty is debated when it is brought up, opinions vary from one group of people to another, one side says the execution is murder, and the other saying that it is justice being done. Each side presents valid arguments to why people should be for it or against it; people’s opinions are formed by personal beliefs.

     There are many reasons to both support and oppose the death penalty. Many people can feel very strongly about whether or not they approve of this method of punishment. I feel that the death penalty is wrong, and I believe that there is much support to back this up. I believe that the death penalty is wrong because it is not an effective deterrent, racially and economically bias, unreliable, expensive, and morally wrong of society.

Capital Punishment is an issue that has been argued over from the dinner table in

During that same year, a jury convicted and sentenced him to death for rape of two other women and the rape/murder of Marjorie Hipperson. Marjorie’s killer would spend the next thirteen years on death row awaiting his execution; however, the verdict was never to come to be. As fate would have it, in 1972 following a ruling by the California Supreme Court, their decision commuted all current death row inmates’ sentences to life. In what the media would eventual dub the “notorious class of ’72” (Gafni), Marjorie’s Killers no longer faced the executioner, instead he now had the opportunity for parole. Six short years would pass but eventually in 1978, Marjorie’s Killer was released from prison. Once again, he found himself a free man, free to return to his old habits, free to prey on new

The development of McMillian’s story is similar to Haney’s explanation that the courts dehumanize those accused of a crime, painting them as people incapable of feeling compassion or pain. In Psychological Secrecy and The Death Penalty, Haney’s main argument is that in many cases peoples social and family history is not taken into consideration to explain what lead the defendant to violently act out. In McMillian’s case, his alibies and background were not considered – just the fact that he was African American and fit the community imposed stereotype of African Americans. If looked at, background history may give a deeper insight and could explain the person’s actions – humanizing them. The framing of a story portrays a person and sets

On June first, a single black man named Joe James jumped off a freight train entering springfield, and began a streak of partying. He had been arrested soon after, and was sentenced for 50 days in the jail, but was allowed to run errands while on parole. WHile on parole on June 3rd, he left and didn’t come back. While drunk, he had entered Clergy Ballard’s house the night before, and had slashed the neck of Clergy after attempting to sexually assault his daughter. The next day, after waking up on a park bench, multiple of Clergy’s relatives and neighbors ganged up on James and beat him senseless until police arrived to arrest James. They hauled him off to the town jail until shipped off to a court case.

Stevenson describes the case by the name of Walter McMillian sentenced to death for the accusations of killing a white women in Monroeville, Alabama. Stevenson represented McMillan as his lawyer in the late 1980’s when evidence was ignored proving his innocence. The local authorities make a case for McMillian , even though many witnesses stated he was at church fundraiser at his home when the murder had taken place. He was sent to

Marshall’s troubles extended beyond simple land or fishing rights dispute. There are symptoms of serious disease in the justice system when it comes to the life and trials of Marshall. Using a troubled youth and racism, the court system put Marshall away for a murder he didn’t commit. This apparent “murder” occurred in May of 1971 when Marshall met an acquaintance by the name of Sandy Seale late at night. Later on, Roy Ebsary and Jimmy MacNeil joined their party and a confrontation ensued where Ebsary stabbed Seale and slashed Marshall. As any troubled youth would do, they fled the scene. Yet, despite the fact that Marshall was the one to return and phone an ambulance, he was the one eventually convicted of the

Only May 30 1969, sixteen-year-old David Milgaard was falsely convicted for the murder of Gail Miller. He was sentenced a life imprisonment for someone else’s crime. His friends turning on him due to drugs, police failing to look into statements and lies for money all lead to Milgaard being sentenced to a life imprisonment.

This report will focus on Theodore Robert Bundy. Bundy was confirmed to be have been connected to at least 40 murders and was executed by Old Sparky, Florida’s electric chair in January 24, 1989. Initially, Bundy was arrested for a driving violation in August 1975. When police searched his vehicle, suspicious items were found that led to Bundy’s charge of Carol DaRonch’s kidnapping. Bundy was sentenced to 15 years in prison in February 1976 but was later charged with the murder of Caryn Campbell in October 1976. However, Bundy escaped prison and proceeded to live a College life until brutally murdering two women of Florida State University and other reported murders. Bundy was finally brought to trial where he arrogantly acted as his own attorney.

I, as well as many others, have total confidence in the death penalty. It is a very beneficial component of our justice system. The death penalty saves lives. It saves lives because it stops those who murder from ever murdering again. It also deters potential murderers from ever committing the crime.

The first case of exoneration in the United States was found in the late 1980s. Before this time several hundreds of people were falsely accused of committing a crime. Joseph White was convicted by a jury in 1989 for his alleged role in the crime and sentenced to life without parole (Innocence Project, 2014). He had spent eighteen years in the prison living the life of a murderer when in 2008 he was taken to the court and a DNA test was run on him. This test proved that White was innocent and that the crime was committed by someone else.

I strongly believe in the death penalty because it deters crime. According to James Pitkin (2008) “Advocates of the death penalty argue that it deters crime, is a good tool for police and prosecutors (in plea bargaining for example), makes sure that convicted criminals do not offend again and is a just penalty for atrocious crimes such as child murders, serial killers or torture murderers.”

I strongly believe in the death penalty because murderers have no place of sympathy in my conscience as taking an innocent person’s life with premeditated thought is just blatantly cruel. Ideally for me, the death penalty should be applied to the irrevocably and rightfully accused for the most heinous crimes. The death penalty promotes moral justice, a certain degree of safety, and rightly placed compassion in society.

The most severe form of punishment of all legal sentences is that of death. This is referred to as the death penalty, or “capital punishment”; this is the most severe form of corporal punishment, requiring law enforcement officers to actually kill the offender. It has been banned in numerous countries, in the United States, however an earlier move to eliminate capital punishment has now been reversed and more and more states are resorting to capital punishment for such serious offenses namely murder. “Lex talionis”, mentioned by the Bible encourages “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” mentality, and people have been using it regularly for centuries. We use it in reference to burglary, adultery, and various other situations, although,