Death Penalty

Just as Ray Bradbury has said, “The gift of life is so precious that we should feel an obligation to pay back the universe for the gift of being alive” (DeathPenaltyInfo.org). A lesson taught from practically birth, is that the human life is sacred. If the gift of life is so special why do cities and states in the United States find it fair to kill someone instead of keeping them in solitary confinement? These statements are only a few of many that spark a controversy over the issue of prohibiting or allowing the death penalty to continue. In recent studies of six U.S. states, 44% supported the death penalty, while fifty-six percent believed it should be banned. Out of the group who disagreed with the penalty, a majority explained their reasoning

The Founding Fathers had in mind that no man ought to be subject to “cruel and unusual punishment”. However, taken out of context nearly 250 years later, the notion of capital punishment may seem both cruel and unusual. The death penalty for capital crimes has stirred not only moral and religious ,but poses an economic issue as well. Opponents of the death penalty cite that Lex talionis, or the idea that one ought to retaliate for wrongs done, is an idea gone and has no place in a new civilized society. Also they does an eye an eye make the whole world blind. The death penalty is a barbaric and inefficient way of punishing criminals. In many areas of the country, the death system of appeals and trials makes up 60-80% of the total criminal

James Felner, author of “Mentally Retarded Don’t Belong on Death Row,” states that, “A person is considered mentally retarded if he or she has a significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning, which generally means recording an IQ score of lower than 70, and exhibiting deficits in adaptive behavior before the age of 18.” According to the American Association on Mental Retardation, it has three components:

Commit suicide is defined as the action of someone who intentional to end their own life. Person who attempted to suicide or non-fatal behavior usually regarded as self-mutilation. Suicide is also defined as someone who has intention to suicide but then doesn’t death. Assisted suicide is refers to a person who providing advice or other way to assist the person who desire to death to accomplish their purpose but not directly involved in the process that leading to death. This is different from euthanasia. In euthanasia, others have directly involved in the process that leading to death. Suicidal ideation refers to a person who has intention to suicide.

D'elia, C.. (2010). Less than We Might: Meditations on Life in Prison Without Parole. Federal Sentencing Reporter, 23(1), 10-20.

The Death Penalty, is it right? No it is not. Over 150 people have been exonerated from death row. At least ten people have been executed, but evidence that was later discovered proved they may have been innocent. The Death Penalty should be outlawed in all states. If we were to keep all the people on death row alive, taxes would be even more expensive. Yes, if a person was on death row, they commited a bad crime, but they do not need to be executed. Many people believe the death penalty is the best way to punish the suspect of a crime. The Death Penalty costs too much money, it is cruel and unusual, and many people have been wrongly convicted.

- In this view, punishment is required to “annul” the wrong done to the victim or “restore the

The concept of the death penalty has been around since the 1700’s B.C. where it was first defined in the Code of Hammurabi (Historical Timeline). Since then, the death penalty has morphed and changed. In 1608 A.D., Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia was hanged for treason (Historical Timeline). This became the first execution recorded in America (Historical Timeline). After this moment in history, people have debated the concept of the death and if it is truly constitutional in regards to the other amendment.

Is the death penalty necessary? Do I agree with the death penalty? In my personal opinion I do agree with the death penalty for specific reasons. Personally, to me the death penalty serves a purpose. A purpose in which bringing justice to the people of the United States. If one of your family members was to be murdered, what would you want to happen? You would want the person to suffer the same way that he/she made your relative suffer. With the death penalty, it helps people sleep at night knowing that they have justice in the United States of America.

As adults, we have grown out of spankings from our parents, but that also means that the responsibility for actions has been placed upon our shoulders. Whether it be positive or negative, there is a consequence for every action taken. Therefore, with a negative action a negative consequence should be given. While the death penalty may appear faintly harsh and inhuman, so is the killing of other humans. With an unpopular vote among the nation, “the number of inmates put to death in 2014 was the fewest in 20 years” (Von).

The death penalty has been a controversial issue for many years. It was established centuries ago and has been accepted by society. It was put into place to punish those who had committed an offense against laws of the institution that was in place at the time. Within our society the death penalty has been associated with several symbols. ‘An eye for an eye,’ is a symbol that has come to be the representation of the death penalty; which was one of the original ideas behind it. Times have changed and the death penalty is now used for more serious offenses and considered to be a deterrence. The death penalty should be abolished because it does not effectively deter crime. I will be discussing the lack of deterrence on the death penalty

(Bedau CC Pg 407) In the observation of the parole, imprisonment, and release records, there is only about one out of five hundred convicted murderers would kill again; from this we can only tell that execution of these convicts could only prevent fewer killing to take place by taking more lives. (Bedau CC Pg 408) No concrete evidence could ever sufficiently prove the death penalty being more effective than life imprisonment in deterrence; therefore without a credible evidence to show the more serious penalty of death is efficient, the lighter sentence of life imprisonment should always be the more suitable choice. (Bedau CC Pg 409)

This paper uses the many accounts found from various sources to enlighten the reader on the destructive and unhelpful nature of the death penalty also referred to as capital punishment. The death penalty is both useless and harmful to not only criminals but also their potential victims. This paper uses these horrific facts to try and convince the reader that the death penalty should be done away with before it is too late, although that time may have already come. With supporting evidence to support my cause, I hope that the following information sways at least one reader to see the harm of keeping the death penalty an active punishment. The time has come to come out of the dark ages and develop a new and more effective punishment for those criminals who would commit such heinous crimes as mass murder and other outlandish things.

However, as with every controversial issue, there are always two sides to consider. Opponents of the death penalty argue that the death penalty violates the basic human right to life. They believe that prison sentences are a satisfactory alternative to the death penalty for criminals who commit even the most horrific crimes. They present their case by contradicting the very same reasons that validate the death penalty. In addition to their counter arguments, they further argue that it sometimes leads to the death of innocent people and that it discriminates by race. Even after considering objections made against it, I have addressed the statements of opposition to illustrate that the need for the death penalty exceeds these objections.

In an aberrant way, combatants of the death penalty would argue that execution is less punitive than life without parole would be. This is not to say the basis of any legal claim regarding capital punishment should rely solely on the convict's life philosophy, but some prison conditions are seen as worse than death. For example in the “Supermax prison in Colorado. . . inmates typically spend 23 hours a day locked inside a cell, with little communication with other inmates or the outside world” (Holloway). Although, that is of the opinion of the minority who believes retribution is the same as justice. What that argument fails to realize is that