Taking a Look at the Death Penalty

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.

Death Penalty should be allowed under circumstances also known as capital punishment, where congress or any state legislature recommend the death penalty for murder and other capital crimes. Majority of the states are favor in death penalty, roughly around 32 states are favor and 18 states are against death penalty. In most cases, many argue that death penalty has violated the 8th amendment, where it bans cruel and unusual punishment. Therefore, they would go against death penalty. However, without the sentence to death, the chances of prisoner escaping prison are really high. If they are able to escape prison and get away with it, then they can continue committing crimes. Although some may argue that death penalty is harsh because if you kill someone; and then you take another person’s life, then why should yours be freed? I personally do not agree with death penalty because taking away another person’s life is not going to regain the victim’s life back. However, the victim’s family would want the person to be sentence to death, so the victim can rest in peace. I think that death penalty should be only allowed under circumstances, but then how can you really determined if the case should be ruled with death penalty? And how would the justice system know that they have made the correct decision? Did the decision of sentence to death turn out to be wrong, where the person is later found innocent? There are multiple of questions that people will be more concern about. The

In the article "The Case Against the Death Penalty," which shows up in Crime and Criminals: Opposing Viewpoints, Eric Freedman contends that capital punishment does not discourage fierce crime as well as conflicts with decreasing the crime rate. This essay will analyse Freedman 's article from the perspectives of a working man, a needy individual, and a government official.

The criminal justice system was made to protect the rights and the safety of the citizens of the United States, It was created to have justice in the United States, But even then it has some flaws. Three of the faults I decided to discuss about are the death penalty, Issues within prison for example; weapons and riots, and high incarceration rates.

On September 9, 1993 a seventeen year old boy, Christopher Simmons, and a few of his friends met up to discuss and devise a plan to commit a robbery and possibly even a murder, just for the sake of fun. Simmons’ plan was not complicated: find someone to burglarize, tie up the victim and either leave the victim tied to a tree or push them off a bridge. Simmons and his accomplice climbed through a window and proceeded into the bedroom of the victim, Mrs. Cook. The two teenagers tied the woman up and loaded her into the back of her own minivan. They drove to the state park at the edge of town, where they had planned to dispose of the body and that is exactly what they did. The boys were caught later on that month and put on trial for cold

The monetary expense to taxpayers is much more than if one was kept in prison for life. Generally the public does not understand that executing one death sentence runs 2-5 times more than housing a criminal in prison for the rest of their life. There never-ending appeals, jurors have to be paid extra and there has to be a special prosecutor among many other things. Some prisoners sit on death row from 15 to 20 years while their appeals drag on in court. It takes a considerable amount of finances for all of the court services needed in a capital punishment case. Is that money that we can afford to waste?

The death penalty has been a controversial topic for years, being a maximum punishment, giving to a person committing a horrible crime no choice but death. Though death penalty does have a small impact in the way, people think after committing a crime. It does not make a criminal pay their sentence because they executed them and the victim’s family are abandon

“Lets do it!” these were the famous last words of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore. It was the winter of 1976 and the whole country was abuzz about Gilmore. He had shot and killed two people in just a span of two days in Utah. Not only did the jury convict him of two counts of murder but they unanimously proposed the death penalty for Gilmore who was even requesting his own death. At the time the U.S has just reinstated the death penalty and Gilmore was to be the first executed after the law was reinstated. Gilmore had two options for his execution because Utah had the firing squad or hanging as the two ways of execution. Gilmore chose to be shot and once strapped to the chair behind the Utah prison he said those famous last words before being shot to death for his crimes. The famous last words were said to have been the influence on the Nike footwear tagline “Just do it” by the popular advertising executive Dan Wieden.

If your family was victim to a heinous federal crime, such as murder, rape, or abduction, would you still be opposed to capital punishment? Capital punishment can be defined as the legal authorization for the killing of someone as punishment for a crime. This is a highly controversial topic in the United States of America, debating whether taking a life in the name of the law is considered justice. While the death penalty is necessary in our society, it needs much reform. Debated topics within the subject of the death penalty are wether race and age play a factor, forms of execution and whether they are cruel and unusual, does it deter criminals from committing federal crimes, and does it provide victims and their families closure.

The Death Penalty Discussion In today’s world terrible crimes are being committed daily. Many people believe that these criminals deserve one fate; death. Death penalty is the maximum sentence used in punishing people who kill another human being and is a very controversial method of punishment. Capital punishment is a legal infliction of death penalty and since ancient times it has bee used to punish a large variety of offences.

Johansen, Jay. "The Death Penalty Deters Crime." The Death Penalty. Ed. Mary E. Williams. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2002. N. pag. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 Nov. 2016. In this article, the author examines the crime rates when it comes having the death penalty. The information I want to include is the dates of when crime decreased when the death penalty came in, in order to refute it. This article is different from the article I will be using to refute this, for it does have data compared to this article.

Imagine your loved one is gunned down on the street by a person who admits to the killing but shows no remorse. The penalty for this type of crime is the death penalty, but his or her sentence is commuted to life in prison. Would you be angry with the judicial system? Would you have faith in our criminal justice system? Capital Punishment, also known as the death penalty, refers to punishment by death imparted to a person by a state or a legal entity for certain crimes. Many Americans believe that the death penalty is not the solution for capital crimes, but a waste of time and money. On the other hand, they argue that awareness of the death penalty deters others from committing similar acts. Judicial officials have become timider when sentencing offenders to death in fear of the legal backlash from groups not in favor of the death penalty. The death penalty has been around for many years, with many governments abolishing capital punishment. The first established death penalty laws date back to the Eighteenth Century B.C., during the time period of King Hammurabi of Babylon. During this period, death sentences were carried out by such means as crucifixions, drownings, impalements, being burned alive, and being beaten to death. Later in history, under Great Britain 's Henry VII, 72,000 people are estimated to have been executed under Hammurabi 's laws. When the

The crime I think is the most severe is murder. Taking another's person’s life without their approval is the most horrible thing you can do. So therefor it deserves the most severe punishment. It is here the huge debate about the death penalty comes in. Should it really be allowed to kill murderers? Everybody's opinion is different when it comes to this subject, people agree on some things, but disagree on others. I am deeply conflicted when talking about this but most of the time i think of it as the easy way out. In my eyes dying instead of spending your life in the prison is like taking a shortcut in a marathon. You get to the goal either way but one of the options are cheating. No matter what way the prisoner gets they are still going to

Bright, Stephen B.: "The death penalty as the answer to crime: costly, counterproductive and corrupting"; 35 Santa Clara Law Review 1211 (1995)

What is your standpoint on capital punishment? Capital punishment, also referred to as the death penalty, is a government sanctioned practice in which it is legal to kill someone as punishment for a crime (What Is). The first known death penalty laws date back as far as the Eighteenth-Century B.C. in the Code of King Hammurabi (Introduction). These death sentences were carried out by such means as crucifixion, drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement for 25 different crimes in Babylon. This practice has taken place in every century of some sort and still continues to be practiced in certain places today. According to The Telegraph, 58 countries still execute citizens by means of capital punishment, with the U.S. being one of the top four in leading executions (Mapped). The death penalty is a very strong topic and is a heated controversy among many world leaders. I, personally, think that the death penalty should be rid of worldwide based on the possibility of innocence, civil and religious issues, and cost and deterrence.