Death Penalty; Right or Wrong?

The death penalty is a controversial topic that people have been debating for a number of years. We often hear ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’ The death penalty can be interpreted by this maxim, which means the murderer should get punished to match their crime. If you kill someone, then you should pay back with life. In the article “The Death Penalty Is a Deterrent,” the author, George E. Pataki argues that the death penalty is “a necessary tool to fight and deter crime” because it creates a feeling of fear of death to murderers (Pataki 10). Since Pataki took office he immediately reinstated the death penalty; “the violent crime has dropped 23%” (Pataki 11). Pataki uses the data to reflect the significant decline of the crime rate.

The debate on whether or not the death penalty should be abolished has been ongoing for quite a long period of time. While there are those who believe that the death penalty does not serve its intended purpose, proponents of the same are convinced that the relevance of the same cannot be overstated and hence it should not be abolished. In this text, I examine the arguments for and against the death penalty.

The death penalty, or capital punishment, has always been a topic of much debate in the United States. There are those who support it and those who oppose it, and each side has their fair share of points being made, backed by supportive evidence. The topics range from the morality of this punishment, including the methods of execution as well as fairness issues in regards to sex and race. The first issue that will be addressed is in regards to the death penalty working to prevent violent crimes.

For years the death penalty has been one of the most controversial topics in the judicial field. The death penalty has been abolished in 18 states leaving 34 states that allow it. It is argued that the death penalty goes against moral and religious beliefs along with being unconstitutional. I’m against the death penalty not because of sympathy for criminals but because it isn’t effective in reducing crime, cost more than it would to incarcerate a person for life, and worst of all it risks executions of innocent people. Capital punishment is an increasingly argued issue in today’s society. The main focus of the criminal justice system is to rehabilitate criminals and to protect society from those who are not. Ernest Van Den Haag argues that,

For the past decades capital punishment has been one of the most hotly contested political issues in America, but this debate is definitely a complicated one. Capital punishment is a legal, practical, philosophical, social, political, but also a moral question. The notion of deterrence has been at the very center of the practical debate over the question of capital punishment. Most of us assume that we execute murderers primarily because we

Only the most dangerous criminals in the world are faced with society’s ultimate penalty, or at least that is the theory. Capital punishment, commonly referred to as the Death Penalty has been debated for many decades regarding if such a method is ethical. While there are large amounts of supporters for the death penalty as a form of retribution, the process is avoidable financially as taxing for all parties involved. The financial expenses may be better off saved for life imprisonment with an emphasis in restorative justice for victims. Overall, there is unreasonable inefficiency with the capital punishment to justify the taking of another person’s life.

There is a topic that lingers in today's society “The death penalty” which has been around since the 1800’s hundreds. The death penalty still remains as a controversial issue in society. In the last sixty years, there has been numerous and many polls that has been carried out to determine the amount of support that the death penalty has. There has been many abolitionists that have made it known to others that the death penalty should be abolished in the US for decades. America has always been threatened with terrorist attacks, such event that has occurred in September 11, also the distribution of virus that was known to be deadly, and also random attacks by dangerous people from across the country. Due to these attacks there has been an outrage, a moral outrage, also there are new debates on whether to use or to abolish the death penalty as a way to stop criminals from committing crimes. There has been thousands of innocent people that have lost their lives due to terror attacks. There has been a rise on rape and murder due to these criminal behaviors. The victim’s family members are left with anger and hurt and

The death penalty has become a heavily debated topic in society, due to the uncertainty of its moral context. Supporters of the death penalty reason that those who have committed blameworthy crimes should have their lives go worse as a result of their actions. They believe in retribution. Protestors of the death penalty believe that it is counterproductive. They say that by legalizing the behavior that the law is trying to prevent, which is killing, they are being hypocritical. William Baude’s article raises the question of whether or not the death penalty is constitutional. The death penalty has plenty of ethical, legal, and moral matters associated with it. The moral dilemma of the death penalty can be viewed from deontological and utilitarian perspectives. Both theories allow the death penalty to be a morally acceptable punishment, but the difference is the reason behind each theory.

The death penalty has been one of those things in the justice system that has slowly changed as the years have gone by. The death penalty has its pros and cons. There are guilty people who deserve the death penalty and then there are innocent people who get convicted of crimes that they didn’t do. This paper will let you open your eyes to the criminal justice system, specifically to the death penalty.

The death penalty remains one of the most controversial topics in the study of criminal justice. Hundreds of convicted criminals have seen their fate by the hands of capital punishment in the course of United States history. Hundreds of others are still awaiting the day their sentence will be carried out. However, even though many of Americans still believe the principal role of capital punishment is deterring future crimes, thousands of others condemn the United States criminal justice system for its errors and fallacies, which result in erroneous capital punishment decisions and legalized violence against innocent people.

     Proponents of the current system of capital punishment defend this system as beneficial to society on these same grounds. It is argued that putting prisoners to death saves money over the alternative option of imprisoning them for a formidable amount of time, and acts as a deterrent to violent crime. It is further argued that the death penalty is in perfect accordance with all principles and protections set forth in the Constitution. Finally, the contention is offered that the death penalty is morally acceptable and permissible in that a violent offender has forfeited his or her right to life in the commission of his crime. Through the use of evidence consisting of both statistics and expert opinions on all three of the aforementioned grounds it can be clearly shown that the death penalty should be abolished once and for all.

The world can be a dark and cruel place to live… proof of this can be easily determined by watching the news, reading the newspaper, or watching today’s television shows and movies. Every day hundreds of horrendous crimes are committed; murder, kidnapping, child molestation, the list goes on and on. These crimes are sufficient proof that there is enough evil in this world.The death penalty has, and will be an extremely prominent controversial issue worldwide, yet I believe that it is important we remain advocates for the death penalty as it is a vital factor for keeping society under order. it is among the oldest criminal punishments, and has shown its effectiveness if it has stayed around this long. Capital punishment serves 4 general purposes: To punish crime, to prevent repetition of crime, to discourage future crimes, and save the taxpayers lifelong expenses for prison.

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.

Since society has been in existence, there has always been a pondering question on how to punish criminals. Having the death penalty to actively punish criminals has been debated for many years. Some say it deters crime and others say it unfairly punishes the poor. More than half of the states in America actively use the death penalty. There have been recent debates over the methods used for putting people to death and over the abolishment of the death penalty. Despite its controversial nature, the death penalty must be in effect to diminish the rate of crime, regulate the overcrowding in prisons and for the solemn purpose of incapacitation.

An issue that has continually created tension in today's society is whether the death penalty serves as a justified and valid form of punishment. Whenever the word "death penalty" comes up, extremists from both sides start yelling out their arguments. One side says deterrence, the other side says there's a potential of executing an innocent man; one says justice, retribution, and punishment; the other side says execution is murder. Crime is an evident part of society, and everyone is aware that something must be done about it. Most people know the threat of crime to their lives, but the question lies in the methods and action in which it should be dealt with. In several parts of