Death Sentence Essay

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.

The death penalty is a controversial topic in the United States today and has been for a number of years. The death penalty was overturned and then reinstated in the United States during the 1970's due to questions concerning its fairness. The death penalty began to be reinstated slowly, but the rate of executions has increased during the 1990's. There are a number of arguments for and against the death penalty. Many death penalty supporters feel that the death penalty reduces crime because it deters people from committing murder if they know that they will receive the death penalty if they are caught. Others in favor of the death penalty feel that even if it doesn't deter others from committing crimes, it will eliminate

Keeping a prisoner in jail for life will be very expensive considering that it costs $80,000 a year; and the bad news is that the money comes from the taxpayer's pocket. Thousands of people will attack the death penalty. They will give emotional speeches about the one innocent man who might be executed. However, all of these people are forgetting one crucial element. They are forgetting the thousands of victims who die every year. This may sound awkward, but the death penalty saves lives. It saves lives because it stops those who murder from ever murdering again (Bryant). These opinions represent some of the strongest and most influential views that proponents hold. However, if our prison system could rehabilitate more effectively, perhaps those who murdered once, could change.

BODY 1- We can prevent disgraceful crimes from happening by bringing back the death penalty; by following this adjustment there will be minor crimes being committed. Recent research shows that each execution carried out is correlated with approximately 74 fewer murders each following year. Death penalty serves a definite purpose of reducing crime as well as bringing justice

Many criminals take the lives of or hurt many people around them. They are later released after doing time in prisons to go on the streets again where they will do the same things over again. "[W]e reserve the death penalty in the United States for the most heinous murders and the most brutal and conscienceless murderers. To sentence killers like those described above to less than death would fail to do justice because the penalty – presumably a long period in prison – would be grossly disproportionate to the heinousness of the crime. Prosecutors, jurors, and the loved ones of murder victims understand this essential point…” Death penalty does the justice right for seriously violent criminals instead of having them do time in prisons to be released.

The use of capital punishment is a contentious social issue in the United States. Currently, it is a legal sentence in thirty-two states and illegal in eighteen (States With and Without the Death Penalty). Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty is “the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime” (Oxford Dictionaries). A sentencing for the death penalty can be mete out due to a capital offense of treason, murder, arson, or rape. The most commonly used methods for capital punishment include lethal injection, handing, and electrocution. The act of capital punishment is unethical and immoral. Capital punishment is

The death penalty is a costly way to punish criminals for their heinous crimes. In fact, according to the article “Death of the Death Penalty”, “capital punishment costs six times as much as a life sentence”. These costs could be used for other funding the state will use for their citizens. Instead, these citizens must pay higher taxes in order to execute these inmates. Over time, the amount needed to execute someone will rise and states may need to pull money from other causes and use it to punish criminals.

“Between 1930 and 2010, 5,093 people were executed in the United States. As of 2010, 35 states and the federal government authorize capital punishment” (Source #2). The death penalty has been brought to court many times. Today most states believe that lethal injection is the most humane method of execution, but some states still have the firing squad, hanging, gas chambers, and electrocution. “All jurisdictions provide for execution by lethal injections. 16 jurisdictions provide for alternative methods of execution, contingent upon the choice of the inmate, the date of the execution or sentence, or the possibility of the method being held unconstitutional”(Source

The death penalty is not slowing down crime, and the way it’s done now, or rather not done, is not serving justice to the families of these criminals’ crimes. It is borderline cruel and unusual punishment, which is in direct violation of the eighth amendment to the Constitution. Capital punishment and death row should be abolished completely. If we’re going to let most of the inmates on death row die of natural causes anyway There is absolutely no reason to keep this going any

The death penalty is currently used by 34 states and is used by the federal government for punishing federal crimes. And in most cases the death penalty is used when the criminal has been convicted of murder. However, two people have been sentenced to death for the rape of a minor. The definition of the death penalty is: execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense. This begs the question does the government have the right to take away someone’s life? And if so is it ethical and moral? Overall the goal of the Criminal Justice system is to give the right sentence and protect the people. Even though the death penalty does this, there are better more efficient ways to accomplish that

Many people have a fear of death, many a fear of confinement. It is impossible to predict which sentence would deter the most potential murderers. With this in mind, it makes more sense to have a variety of sentences that would deter the greatest amount of people. Abolishing the death penalty may result in those who are not deterred by the life sentence continuing to commit heinous crimes. As van den Haag states, “Sparing the lives of even a few prospective victims by deterring their murderers is more important than preserving the lives of convicted murderers because of the possibility, or even the probability, that executing them would not deter others” (194).

As a whole, capital punishment has worked to lower homicidal crimes and deter criminals from illegal actions. Capital punishment could help to keep repeat offenders off the streets. In some states the common belief is that imprisoning the murders of society in penitentiaries will keep them from killing again, but this is not true. Even when criminals are imprisoned, their killing can still continue. Bedau did a survey of all the male inmates in state penitentiaries during the year of 1973. He came to the conclusion that after the men were imprisoned for one year, at least sixteen homicides were reported (7). In effect, the

There are several controversies surrounding capital punishment. Some people are in favor of the death penalty and some people are against it. Capital punishment is the death penalty for a crime. It is not right to seek revenge on another person’s life, and we have the right to live. There should be justice for the crime but not take the life of the person that committed the crime. Many people are not aware of how wrong, painful, and costly an execution is, and above all, it is possible to kill innocent people.

Capital punishment is the best solution to the problem of overcrowded jails because all “lifers” would be sent to death row and executed. These “lifers” would no longer require a cell or take up space in an already crowded jail. This removal of “lifers” helps alleviate the congestion in jails because it creates vacancies in cells for convicts serving lighter sentences. For example, a federal penitentiary can accommodate on average 300 hardened criminals. If all convicts with life sentences, 50, were to be removed, a more manageable 250 convicts would remain in a less congested penitentiary. Clearly, the death penalty is the best way to eliminate overcrowded jails.

Ultimately, prisoners who have been sent to the death row have committed serious crimes such as murders. Although it isn't right for them to commit the crime it's also not fair to take the prisoner's life away. Death penalty is cruel and no one deserves to go through