Death Penalty Ethical Issues

Capital punishment, otherwise known as the death penalty, is a controversial subject which has been argued for decades due to the ethical decisions involved. People believe the death penalty is the right thing to do and that it is the perfect example of ‘justice’ while others believe that it is immoral and overly expensive. The death penalty is not a logical sentence for criminals, it doesn’t give them the right type of justice and it is immoral.

An innocent man is wrongly executed whilst a man who raped and murdered a mother and her thirteen year old daughter spends the rest of his life with three meals a day and cable television. Which of these is the bigger injustice? The use of the death penalty to punish serious crimes is a very controversial topic and there is much debate surrounding the issue. This paper will briefly discuss arguments supporting and against the use of the death penalty.

“On Jan 7, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments challenging the lethal three-Drug cocktail used in most U.S executions. In a perfect world, perhaps, the government wouldn’t wait 30 years to determine whether an execution method makes sense” Von Drehle, D (2008). So many Americans are being sentenced to death, and we stand back and wonder how this can be happening. It happens because we have criminals and so we will continue to have crime, and instead of trying to figure out the who, what, where and why we would rather put them to death. The reasons to abolish the death penalty go on and on, what about the

The question of ethical behavior is an age-old conundrum. The prevailing issue with ethics is that it is extremely difficult to measure. A person’s moral fabric is largely based on their particular personality traits, as well as, their psychological state and environmental influences. Many believe that ethics are tied to a person’s conscience, and that good morals are often facilitated by a strong religious background. Furthermore, a person’s moral development can be linked to their economic situation and cultural differences. Interestingly, even while examining the status of one’s moral code is challenging; everyone seems to have their own unique array of ethics.

Since 1977 there has been 1,188 people executed in the United States. From 1973 there has been 7,482 people executed in the world. The death penalty has been a highly discussed topic in today’s news because it is a controversial issue that has endless reasons of if it is justified or not. Our world is changing at a rapid pace and so our the criminals in it. Some may think that the crimes being committed are getting out of hand. The issue now is what type of punishment do the murderers and brutal criminals receive? Or what type of punishment do they really deserve? Death row and execution is the best option in some people's eyes, but the problem is that some people strongly disagree with this idea. Is the execution of murderers and other brutal criminals really justified?

(“History of Death Penalty Laws” n. pag.). There were close to 72,000 people executed in the sixteenth century and various capital offences which included marrying a Jew, not confessing to a crime, and treason. (“History of the Death Penalty” n. pag.). The number of crimes in Britain increased due to the crimes people committed. From 1823 to 1837, the death sentence was eliminated for over half of the crimes previously punishable by death (“History of the Death Penalty” n. pag.). There was a court case that used the death penalty in 1972 when a young girl was murdered while attending college (“Do Families of Victims Feel Justice with the Death Penalty?” Page 1-2). The Stambaugh brothers found out about their sisters death and demanded something to happen to the killer, Allen Walunga. They pushed the death penalty in the many court cases they attended. A probation officer stated, “if we had a death penalty in this state, I would recommend whatever the death penalty might be. This is a heinous crime and I agree that the chances of rehabilitation are poor” (“Death Penalty Would End Punishment of Victim’s Family” n. pag.). This case went on for thirty- seven years, and this family still did not get the justice they felt they deserved. Walunga was not sentenced to the death penalty at any time during any time while requesting for parole. This young girl lost her life, while the one who committed the crime continued to live.

How is it possible that us as Humans care so deeply about Human Rights and treating everyone equally but still have the Death Penalty applied to humans? Why is the Death Penalty acceptable when authorities perform these procedures but when individuals who are not authority figures basically do the same thing as the death penalty is seen as injustice, cruel, and some may think how sick can their minds be to do injustice things to a human, but even if the authorities can do these procedures. (rewrite the sentence) How can it be any good, how can they not see these individuals has equally as them?

Johansen, Jay. "The Death Penalty Deters Crime." The Death Penalty. Ed. Mary E. Williams. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2002. N. pag. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 Nov. 2016. In this article, the author examines the crime rates when it comes having the death penalty. The information I want to include is the dates of when crime decreased when the death penalty came in, in order to refute it. This article is different from the article I will be using to refute this, for it does have data compared to this article.

Capital punishment is one of the most debated topics in the history of the World. It has been implemented and repealed several times by several different countries (DPIC 2014). Capital punishment is the use of the death penalty on someone who has been found guilty of a crime. As of 2013 there are still 58 countries in the international community that still use the death penalty. Of those countries, China had the highest reported number of executions which was in the thousands, the next highest was Iran with 369 reported executions. The United States was among the highest with 39 reported executions. There are currently 3054 inmates on death row in the United States (DPIC 2014).

A 35 year-old man, guilty of brutally murdering his ex-wife and her father, was sentenced to death. This man underwent a botched execution, which was excruciatingly painful due to human error. The inmate awoke shortly after the lethal drugs had been injected and remained conscious for nearly 45 minutes until he experienced a heart attack and died. Although this man suffered greatly, many argue that the criminal still deserved the punishment received and tat there is no alternative more humane. Until 1976 executions were more brutal, for example public hangings, the electric chair, and firing squads but now more than 85% are preformed by lethal drugs ("Capital Punishment: Should" 5). The topic

The Death Penalty in the United States has existed in the since colonial times. Since then, there have been tens of thousands of people who have been legally executed for their crimes against man. “Capital punishment” comes from colonial times when during the process of execution the executioner would cut off the person's head, that is where they got “capital.” In Delaware the death penalty was repealed just last year in 2016. After the recent problems caused for the Law Enforcement such as the prison riot at James T. Vaughn correctional center where there was an 18 hour hostage situation and Sergeant Floyd was murdered. Also, when CPL. Stephen Ballard was killed in the morning at a wawa in Bear Delaware the decision was made after

Philosophy branch which streamlines, protects and guides the concepts of being correct or incorrect is referred as Ethics. People learn this concept from their parents who got it from their parents and it is a chain. However philosophers claim that it is people’s belief which decide ethics along with human intuition. An individual at singular level conscientiously decides what is right and wrong and define a limit of pushing ethical behaviour and morality in being. Moral acceptability of any action can be judged from the points if action is understood by an individual well, the consequences of that action on public, fair treatment of action with all people respectfully and the way action is being performed, the motivation of people for it.

I believe that to decide whether the death penalty should be legal you should try and understand some of the ethical issues behind the death penalty. One ethical issue with the death penalty is of course killing somebody. Most people would agree that killing somebody is wrong, and illegal. The problem is that not everybody believes this. Some people had different ethics or values that they follow. Killing might be understandable under certain circumstances, like a death penalty ruling, to certain people but not others. An interesting fact about killing in regards to the death penalty is a person on death

There has been both a political and personal interest when it came to the death penalty and how people felt about it. There is a lot of states that currently still allow the death penalty and very few of them that finally disallowed the death penalty. I personally feel that the death penalty is wrong no matter who is taking someone's life.

The death penalty seems to be a very debatable subject. There are arguments and support for both sides of the debate, but which side is right? That is a tough question to ask. After reading the article in the textbook, two other articles, and looking at statistics, I seem to feel that the death penalty may not be the right answer.