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Compare And Contrast Capital Punishment And Punishment

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Death Penalty: Rehabilitation or Vengeance
Bonnie L. Hafemann
Upper Iowa University
Professor Lisa D. Bowie, M.A., M.Ed

In today’s modern society where we pride ourselves on our scientific advancements, on our architectural wonders, and our forward methods of thinking, we still hold on to practices that are unjust, unfair, and highly unethical. We protect our people against discrimination, domestic abuse, police brutality and sexual offenses. We preach equality for all based on gender, race, religion, disability, and sexual preference. If we truly believe in these notions, we must let go of the barbaric practices that endorse the notion of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life. This primitive way of thinking has no place in our present or future. Do we want to be viewed as a country that encourages rehabilitation, or a society of retribution and vengeance. The death penalty, the ultimate government sanctioned form of retribution, must be abolished in our justice system – permanently.
Capital punishment, also called death penalty, is the execution of a criminal convicted and sentenced to death by our court system. The term death penalty is sometimes used interchangeably with capital punishment, though the punishment is not always followed by execution, because of the possibility of life imprisonment.
Although most use the two terms conversely, there is a technical difference between them. The death penalty is the actual act of

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