Social Killer Is Denied Parole Again

Capital punishment and the practice of the death penalty is an issue that is passionately debated in the United States. Opponents of the death penalty claim that capital punishment is unnecessary since a life sentence accomplishes the same objective. What death penalty opponents neglect to tell you is that convicted murders and child rapists escape from prison every year(List of prison escapes, 2015). As I write this essay, police are searching for two convicted murders who escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York on June 6th, 2015. The ONLY punishment from which one cannot escape is the death penalty.

Richard Ramirez is an infamous serial murderer who terrorized Los Angeles, California in 1985. The media gave him the name the “Night Stalker” when he was on his vicious rampage of forcing himself into the homes of his victims late at night and committing his heinous crimes. Though he was only convicted of thirteen murders, he had many more victims. His crimes were so random, disorganized, and impulsive that the law enforcement officials of Los Angeles had no luck finding Ramirez for months as he grew increasingly more violent. (Tripod.com, 2012) Finally, in August of 1985, the police had enough information from many of his victims to release a sketch of him to the media. The sketch had only been on the news for one

Los Angeles, California went through a time period where serial killings happened and the suspect was on the run for over two decades. Most of the victims were prostitutes in South Los Angeles. The serial killer began his killings in 1987, apparently stopped for 13 years then resumed with his killings. The killer left little to no evidence, besides his DNA from sexually assaulting his female victims. For decades LAPD failed to find the killer or anyone who was related to him (Dolan & Landsberg, 2010).

Serial murder crime though rare, is not a a new phenomenon. This crime has been committed for centuries and will continue to be a crime that is committed throughout the world. It is unfortunate and scary that this is probably one of the most serious of crimes that cannot be prevented. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, serial murderers commit their crimes because they want to. Rehabilitation is not obtainable for serial killers due to their inability for remorse and empathy, or to see people as people and not objects(Knight 2006). This research paper will focus primarily on serial murder within the U.S. First and foremost, a legal definition provided by the U.S. Department of Justice will be presented to set forth the discussion of this research paper. As follows will be a detailed discussion explaining serial killer typologies with the use of examples of known serial killers in the U.S. Types of serial killers are: power oriented, mission oriented, visionary, and hedonistic, each typology will be clearly defined and explained. Some serial killers can have a mixture of each typology’s characteristic. Serial killers that will be discussed and used as examples to represent the content of this research paper will be, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Robert Berdella, Jeffery Dahmer, and lastly the most prolific serial killer in American history, Gary Ridgeway. Problems with studying serial killing, are that because of rarity and access. Most of what we think

Then two decades later, in 1993, the capital punishment statutes had been reinstated and performing executions, once again striking the thing criminals fear most, death (Tucker). During the 1990s as more states began to reinstate capital punishment statutes, murder rates began to plummet. They went from 9.6 people per 100,000 in 1993 dropping to 7.7 in 1996 and as low as 6.4 in 1999, which was the lowest rate since 1966. In other words, as the author observed during his study of the forty year period, homicide rates have risen when the rate of execution went down and as the execution rates had risen, the rate of homicides had decreased (Tucker). Not only does the death penalty engender an aversion amongst criminals and people who are considering performing heinous actions, it additionally promotes a positive influence towards themselves and others around. The mandate of capital punishment establishes the attitude of abhorrence toward criminals, and causes people to think about what they are doing because of the possible consequences. With people believing that living the criminal life is not the best of decisions, they are deterred away from making the decision of performing the crime (Caldwell 598).

It is irrational to think that the death penalty – a remote threat at best – will avert murders committed in drug turf wars or by street-level dealers” (Bedau). This shows that the death penalty is not stopping murders from occurring. The introduction to the death penalty conducted a survey were top criminologists stated that the death penalty does not deter homicide rates (Introduction). “For 2009, the average Murder Rate of Death Penalty States was 4.9 [Murder rates by the 100,000], while the average Murder Rate of States without the Death Penalty was 2.8” (Introduction).

“The use of the death penalty in the United States has been rapidly declining since the end of the 1990s” (Dieter, 2015). This is contrast to the believes of the Founding Fathers where “the death penalty was widely accepted at the time the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights were ratified” (Gardner & Anderson, 2014). While the crimes have not changed, aspects of capital punishment which were once viewed as constitutional, today are deemed cruel and unusual. The prevailing liberal view sees the death penalty as morally unjustified and a vengeful form retribution. “It is the most brutal form of state power, requires massive state administrations and it costs significantly more than life imprisonment which is both more humane and equally effective” (Davidson, 2015). They point to the lack of deterrence it provides and highlight the racial and gender biases of the criminal justice system and the potential for the execution of the innocent by the State. In contrast, those in favor of capital punishment see it as a valid, moral and constitutional punishment as punishments should be imposed in proportion to the crime. The death penalty is reserved for the most violent of crimes in society and without it, justice is not achieved for victims and their families. The death penalty must be viewed again as a valid, moral and legal

“Murder is wrong” (“Capital Punishment”). We’ve been taught this indisputable truth since childhood. The death penalty is defined as one human taking the life of another. Coincidentally, that is a classification of murder. There are as many as thirty-six states with the death penalty, and it’s essential that they change it. The United States needs the death penalty abolished because it is filled with flaws, cruel and immoral, and is an ineffective means of deterrent for crime.

Crime in America is something that has been around for many decades. While a large number of crimes are considered minor, many more result in the serious injury or death of another human being. “When we think about crimes, we … normally focus on inherently wrongful acts that harm or threaten to harm persons or property” (Bibas 22). The death penalty, also called capital punishment, has been used as a means of punishing the most violent of criminals in an attempt to prevent others from committing similar crimes. Over the centuries, the methods used to conduct these executions have evolved and changed due to effectiveness and public opinion.

Last but not least, from a sociologic perspective, capital punishment does not work as intended, to deter crime rate, rather, it might brutalize individuals, at the same time does nothing good to the victim’s family other than brutal vengeance. The origin of death penalty is served as a vehicle to put a warning for those potential future criminals that such kind of behavior will lead to death. However, so far, no clear evidence can be seen that capital punishment, as a mechanism of deterrent, actually cut down the local crime rate. Ironically, a reversal trend was found by Death Penalty Information Center (2010) in the USA that the death penalty leads to an increase in local murder rate. To die might be too easy for the mindless murderers. Also, for the relatives or friends of criminals put into death through capital punishment, they are more likely to be

There are many controversial points of view on the death penalty in America’s society. Is the death penalty socially correct? Is it just? The death penalty is an execution sentence that a person convicted of a capital crime must face. A person can only be sentenced to death in 33 states (deathpenatly.org). There have been as of April 1, 2012, 3,170 death row inmates in the Unites States history, with an exception of the two inmates in New Mexico and eleven in Connecticut that remain on the death row due to the law not being made retrospective to these inmates. The controversy whether the death penalty is just or unjust has been a debate in America for many years. There have

Murder, a common occurrence in American society, is thought of as a horrible, reprehensible atrocity. Why then, is it thought of differently when the state government arranges and executes a human being, the very definition of premeditated murder? Capital punishment has been reviewed and studied for many years, exposing several inequities and weaknesses, showing the need for the death penalty to be abolished.

From an early age, children are taught that murder is morally wrong. In today’s complex society that is impeded by unsettling periods of civil unrest, it is an expectation for everyone to acknowledge and accept that murder is one of the worst crimes individuals can commit. Perhaps it can be said that the death penalty is one of our legal system’s biggest contradictions of itself, as, if someone commits murder (or another heinous crime of that caliber), such ‘murderers’ will, in states that have capital punishment laws, be sent to Death Row and ultimately murdered in order to prevent potential future crimes by such perpetrators. I believe that the death penalty is wrong not only as it is immoral to take a life, but also, such ineffective laws waste money and do not deter crime.

Four major issues in capital punishment are debated, most aspects of which were touched upon by Seton Hall’s panel discussion on the death penalty. The first issue stands as deterrence. A major purpose of criminal punishment is to conclude future criminal conduct. The deterrence theory suggests that a rational person will avoid criminal behavior if the severity of the punishment outweighs the benefits of the illegal conduct. It is believed that fear of death “deters” people from committing a crime. Most criminals would think twice before committing murder if they knew their own lives were at stake. When attached to certain crimes, the penalty of death exerts a positive moral influence, placing a stigma on certain crimes like manslaughter, which results in attitudes of horror to such acts.

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