Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

The death penalty is still in use in the united states. The state with the most executions is in Texas with a total of 545 from 2017 to the year 1976 (Number of Executions, 2017). The death penalty is a very big debate. There are many reasons why and why people do and don’t like the death penalty.

Many times the major question is do those convicted of a crime deserve to die or whether the state deserve to kill them. In other words what purpose would it serve by killing the person? What rehabilitation could they do if they are dead? This is one of the questions facing the justice system. Although the answer is not an easy one, it requires some thought and negotiation between the justice system and the state in order to determine the answer for each state. Each state must look hard and long at its financial situation as well as what is legally, morally and sometimes politically right.

Punishment by death for people convicted of certain crimes also known as the death penalty is unethical. There are currently 31 states including New Hampshire, in the U.S. with the death penalty and 19 states without. The death penalty is immoral and violates human rights. In some parts of the United States we have a biased criminal justice system which can lead to false an unlawful sentence to death. The death penalty also has irreversible outcomes if proven innocent, it doesn’t lower crime rates, and it is very expensive. The death penalty is just contributing to the cycle of violence, retribution is not the answer.

The death penalty is a very effective way of justice. It is appropriate for those who deserve it. It is often seen as a way of revenge even though it is a punishment. The death penalty should be kept. Here are some reasons why.

What is the appropriate punishment for a crime? Many believe that criminals deserve capital punishment. Capital punishment is a faulty system in which the negatives outweigh the positives. Sentencing people to death row is a long process that has an emotional toll on the victim’s family. The death penalty goes against many people’s religious beliefs. In many cases, people on death row are later found innocent and released, but in some cases innocent people are executed. It is too expensive to continue sentencing inmates to death when there are other things that are more important to spend money on. Capital punishment has more negative effects than positive effects.

Many people stand oppose side of the death sentence because they think human have no rights to play God-have control over human lives. However, even more, people agree with a death penalty. According to National Conference of State Legislatures, there are 32 states in America that utilize the death penalty. The number of the annual death penalty never surpass the hundred (Statistic Brain) and more than half of the people (65%) agree with this method of sentencing. Death penalty provides an effective form of punishment for crimes involving the conviction of one person for the intentional killing of another person, it should be agreeable punishment for reasons: to save the budget, to lecture and to warn the potential criminal, and to provide happiness for the majority, including the victim and her/his relatives (public vengeance).

Immanuel Kant a philosopher has said, “a society that is not willing to demand a life of somebody who has taken somebody else’s life is simply immoral” (ProCon.org). Kant a german philosopher brought this idea into society during the 1700s. Since then scholars and philosophers have debated if a death penalty should be allotted. In the United states the government has the power to take away life to those that they see fit. Certain states have stopped using the death penalty and this Over multiple years critiques“Currently out of fifty states, seventeen have abolished the death penalty (Death Penalty Information Center). The death penalty should be legalized in all states. The perspectives I’m going to use to look at the death penalty is deterrence and morality. If you see the death penalty through the lens of irrevocable mistakes you can see that the opposing argument do not hold up.

The death penalty is used for a reason. To serve justice, and to prevent other crimes from taking place. I believe that the death penalty is used for good reasons. One of those reasons is because it strikes fear into other criminals eyes. When other criminals are seeing people getting sentenced to death it makes them not want to do the crime as much. Another reason why is because the family knows justice is getting served when the criminal is killed. It brings a sense of peace to the loved one’s family knowing that the person who killed their loved one is getting killed. These are the reasons why I agree with the death penalty.

The death penalty should be enforced because it is a deterrent for future criminals and a means for a victim’s family to obtain justice.

After viewing the National Geographic documentary titled “Death Row Texas”, I found myself grieving the loss of my father. Preceding my father’s death, he was an employee of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) working as a Correctional Officer at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, known as the “Walls Unit”. Over the years, some of the stories that my father shared with me regarding TDCJ unfair system has me struggling with this question, particularly since TDCJ designed the system to oppress people of color through the act of mass incarceration, life in prison, and the death sentence according to a news article published by the New Yorker titled, “The Caging of America”. In the United States of America, White Americans have been murdering innocent African-Americans for centuries without punishments for their crimes, and yet today this behavior continues throughout our criminal justice system. According to the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Texas alone has accounted for more than 30% of the executions in the United States, and over the past five years, people of color make up 80% of the death sentences in Texas with more than 60% of the death sentences imposed on African-Americans. In response to the question whether Willie Earl Pondexter Jr., Johnny Ray Johnson and David Martinez deserve the death penalty, I am still undecided on my position due to my uncertainty regarding the usefulness in imposing the death sentence. Furthermore,

The death penalty is an issue that has the United States quite divided. While there are many supporters of it, there is also a large amount of opposition. Currently, there are thirty-three states in which the death penalty is legal and seventeen states that have abolished it. I believe the death penalty should be legal throughout the nation. There are many reasons as to why I, and many others, believe that the death penalty should be legalized in all states, including fear of consequences, retribution, and mortality.

Controversies surrounding death penalty have elucidated various reactions from different quarters for or against it. Those that support the death penalty argue that it has higher rewards compared to other methods of punishment for grand offenses like sexual assault, robbery with violence or even murder. The reason death penalty is an incredible alternative is because it is less costly, it is legal, provides justice for the family of victims and serves as a deterrent for other individuals who would be considering engaging in similar unlawful activities. This paper will offer a detailed explanation why the death penalty is a better alternative to punishing crime in the US.

The death penalty is the least effective punishment in our government today. If the death penalty is effective then we wouldn’t need a Criminal System at all.The physical mechanics involved in the act of execution are easy to grasp, but the emotions involved in carrying out a death sentence on another person, regardless of how much they deserve it, is beyond my own understanding. However, this act is sometimes necessary and it is our responsibility as a society to see that it is done. Opponents of capital punishment have basically four arguments.

Resolved: The death penalty as a punishment is not appropriate and should be banned. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary the meaning of the death penalty is death as a punishment given by a court of law for very serious crimes. The death penalty does not assuage the grief felt by families of victims, it is not a deterrent to violent crime, and it is not a wise use of taxpayers dollars.

The death penalty is a form of punishment that is not used as often as one may think. Even though most of the American population is not personally affected by the death penalty, the friends and families of victims see it as a form of justice for their lost loved ones. From 1976 to the present there have been over 1,400 inmates executed after being put on death row (Baker, 1). The death penalty is an expensive style of punishment, costing around 470,000 dollars more in cases that consider capital punishment as an option compared to the cases that do not (Erb, 1). With most of that extra cost being paid by state taxes, there are other government funded programs that would experience a loss of support if the death penalty is used frequently. The U.S. National Government should ban the death penalty for economical reasons.