Death Penalty Debate

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.

Why is the death penalty used as a means of punishment for crime? Is this just a way to solve the nations growing problem of overcrowded prisons, or is justice really being served? Why do some view the taking of a life morally correct? These questions are discussed and debated upon in every state and national legislature throughout the country. Advantages and disadvantages for the death penalty exist, and many members of the United States, and individual State governments, have differing opinions. Yet it seems that the stronger arguments, and evidence such as cost effectiveness, should lead the common citizen to the opposition of Capital Punishment.

The death penalty is the ultimate punishment. There is no harsher punishment than death itself. This nation, the United States of America, is currently one of fifty-eight nations that practice the death penalty, if one commits first-degree murder as of 2012. People that believe in the death penalty also believe that it will deter murders. In this paper I will argue that the death penalty does not deter criminals and that this nation should outlaw the practice.

The opposing side of the death trial have been getting a lot of attention, but what people fail to realize is that between 3 and 181 lives would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer. A study in 2006 found that each execution results in five fewer homicides, which follows the theory “If the cost becomes too

The death penalty is one of the most controversed punishments in the United States. According to The Death Penalty Information Center, 88% of criminologist do not believe the death penalty is an effective deterrent. According to deterrence theory, criminals are no different from law abiding people. Individuals settle on their choices taking into account the net expenses and advantages of every option. There is a basis provided for analyzing how capital punishment should influence murder rates, according to the deterrence theory. Throughout the years, a few studies have shown a connection in the middle of executions and reductions in homicide rates.

This proves my argument that capital punishment is not humane. Emanuella Grinberg of CNN states, that “there is no such thing as a ‘humane’ execution.” (Emanuella Grinberg, 2015) Places who still believe in capital punishment are continuing to take the risk of executing innocent people. Our lives are far too valuable to be put into another humans control. Once who execute someone you can never bring them back even if you discover later on that they were actually blameless. “A 1987 study in the Stanford Law Review points to 350 cases between 1900 and 1985 in which innocent people were wrongly convicted of capital crimes; in 23 of those cases, the innocent person was executed, 8 in New York alone. Having capital punishment on the books ignores the possible mistake of human judgment and the criminal justice system.” (The New York Times, 1995) Crime continues despite the fact the death penalty is still intact. People should be given second chances in

The case for capital punishment can best be understood by examining the opposition's arguments against capital punishment. Opponents of capital punishment say the death penalty does not deter crime and is cruel and unusual. Opponents may also argue that capital punishment is a blood thirsty judicial homicide that benefits no one. Are they right to believe a murderer is entitled to our sympathy?

The death penalty doesn’t discourage persons from committing murders. Some may respond that the deterrent value of capital punishment is unproved. But if we

17). Most murderers, in Greenburg’s opinion, are ruled by their whims and therefore will not consider the possibility of being put to death for their actions (Greenburg, par. 18). Moreover, Greenburg points out that the majority of killers are not very smart or disturbed whether by their own doing or with the help of drugs or alcohol (par. 18) Using the reality that so few people are actually executed Greenburg creates an interesting case against the death penalty: if virtually no one dies, how can criminals be deterred by such a unlikely consequence? Greenburg realizes we can never know the exact thoughts of a would be killer, but looking at his interpretation of the reality of our legal system, it not hard to understand his prediction of its ineffectiveness. While Greenburg provides practical reasons to combat deterrence, Michael L. Radelet and Traci L. Lacock in the article “Do Executions Lower Homicide Rates?: The Views of Leading Criminologists,” give expert opinions by summarizing the opinions of leading behavioral scientists. This valuable and insightful resource shows how criminologists have recently shifted away from the belief that death is an effective deterrent. Why? Earlier research showed that execution directly paralleled with lowered homicide and removal of criminals from death row resulted in increased homicides. (Radelet & Lacock 494) But later search found these major studies to be skewed and largely unconnected to murder

The death penalty, also known as capital punishment, has been a topic of debate since it has been introduced. The death penalty is the punishment of execution, which is given to someone who has been legally convicted of a crime. The topic has two sides, to keep and enforce or to abolish. When I came about the topic, I thought to myself this would be an effortless essay to not only argue, but to write as well. Before continuing my research on the subject, I found myself siding with keeping and enforcing capital punishment. However, after furthering my knowledge on the topic, I found myself siding with both sides, as they both hold incredibly important arguments. An advantage the death penalty provides is justice can be more accordingly served, but with this advantage comes a disadvantage of the financial cost for taxpayers. I agree with both of these strengths and weaknesses of capital punishment which is why I have declared myself undecided on whether I believe to keep and enforce or to abolish. Unfortunately, the death penalty is something that is neither black or white, it is a subject that contains many grey areas, such as

The most obvious and convincing advantage of capital punishment for murderers is its deterrence factor(McCuen 54.) Opponents of the death penalty would like everyone to believe that the death penalty does not prevent murders. However, with six percent of all murders being committed by repeat offenders, the death penalty would be an obvious deterrent since the murderers would have been killed before their chance to commit murder a second time. In Georgia, out of a sample of 164 murderers, eight of them committed murders after their prison release (Winters 78.) One out of every twenty murderers released in Oregon were found to kill within five years of release (Winters 78.) These examples are clear evidence that if the death penalty was applied as it was meant to be, it could save six percent of all murders. That would save just under 1,400 lives annually since there are over twenty-two thousand murders every year (Gottfried 23.) Capital punishment opponents also argue that states without the death penalty that adjoin states with the death penalty have crime rates that are just as low (McCuen 45.) However, this is circumstantial and it must be considered that a state with the death penalty has the death penalty for a reason, and that its crime

Studies of the deterrent effect of the death penalty have been conducted for                                               several years, with varying results. Most studies have failed to produce evidence that the death penalty deterred murders more effectively then the threat of imprisonment. The reason for this is that few people are executed and so the death penalty is not a satisfactory deterrent. If capital punishment were carried out

Death penalty advocates argue that the execution of convicted murderers deter others from committing murder for fear that they will also be executed, and also that murderers will be incapacitated: once dead, they will have no opportunity to commit additional murders. Death penalty opponents dispute the deterrent effect of capital punishment, arguing that few murderers rationally weigh the possibility that they might face the death penalty before committing a murder. Finally, death penalty opponents do not dispute that execution incapacitates executed murders, but argue that life imprisonment without possibility of parole is equally incapacitating. (Jacob Sullum, Los Angeles)

Stats have proven that death rates are higher in American states with capital punishment compared to the states that do not use the death penalty. Canada and Europe both do not use capital punishment and have lower death rates than the United States which uses the death penalty. In 2006, homicide rates were taken per a population of 100,000. The United States had 5.7% while Europe had 5.4% and Canada had homicide rates of 1.85% thus indicating that capital punishment makes no difference in homicide rates. Using these 2006 homicide rates we

One of the primary arguments used for the death penalty is that is is a deterrent to crime. The belief is that harsh punishments will keep people from committing serious crimes. While this opinion was widely held some time ago in the united states more recently, people are starting to believe that using the penalty as a deterrent is not effective. In 1985 62% of