The Controversy Surrounding The Death Penalty

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.

Many would suggest that capital punishment is an effective deterrence when in reality it has

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 controversy with capital punishment has been debated for hundreds of years. The Supreme Court is likely to sway its opinion often about whether it should be abolished or instituted throughout the United States. There have been many court cases and lawsuits regarding this issue that has suggested that legislation would be the most effective way to ending the discussion once and for all. In order to abolish the death penalty, the majority has to agree in support of abolition for any legislature to repeal it. This support would have to defend itself through the occasional questions of reinstatement of capital punishment. In order to abolish capital punishment, abolitionist have to provide alternatives to the death penalty that would make sure the criminals that committed the crimes receive harsh enough punishment that would please those wanting to keep the death penalty. Whether or not they are able to accomplish such a task is hard to say. The death penalty needs to be removed on the grounds that is unconstitutional.

The death penalty is not effective in reducing the amount of crime that occurs in our country. There is no evidence that the death penalty discourages or deters crime. The psychological mindset of a criminal is that they are not capable of thinking of the outcome or consequences of their actions when they are committing a crime. The criminals who commit these crimes obviously are not in a normal state of mind, and do not think of outcomes logically or like most people do. Criminals most likely do not sit around thinking, “I won’t commit this murder if I face the death penalty.” Therefore, the use of the death penalty does not help reduce crime, so why use it?

According to the death penalty center (2018), “When European settlers came to the new world, they brought the practice of capital punishment. The first recorded execution in the new colonies was that of Captain George Kendall in the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1608.” What is capital punishment? You may ask… well as per Roger Hood, writer of the Encyclopedia Britannica is “also called the death penalty, [and] is the execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense,” (2017). In other words, capital punishment is the killing of a criminal who has already been tried based on the evidence presented during conviction.

Punishment is a penalty in return for the crime provided by the law, which aims at correcting the culprit and rehabilitating him or her as a good person in society. The death penalty is one of the oldest punishments in history. It is one of the oldest punishments that human beings have ever known. The death penalty is also one of the most serious in terms of the importance of the right to life. The death penalty was not controversial in old legislation. In the modern era, there has been controversy over the feasibility of the death penalty as a sanction between criminal sanctions. The Opponents demand that it be abolished from the law because of the claim of humanization and urbanization of the penal system. However, the death penalty is a deterrent sanction which must be applied in the law for several reasons.

The death penalty is a rather controversial topic, people tend to have a very strong opinion of being either for or against it. The reasons vary as to why a person is for or against the death penalty. Often those that oppose the death penalty argue for the sanctity of life, while proponents for the death penalty argue that it deters crime. The most convincing argument for the death penalty is retribution, the punishment must fit the crime.

The purpose for the death penalty is to help with future crimes, but it seems to have no deterrent effect. Death Penalty Cost (2015) states that in California, it currently costs $137 million for the death penalty every year. It would be reduced down to $11.5 million if they took care of this situation without having to go through all the trials leading up to the execution. Many times it ends up that they find out that the criminal is innocent, so they wasted a lot of taxpayer’s money going through all the trials, and then they usually have life sentence expenses that taxpayers also have to pay

The death penalty, also known as “capital punishment”, is, “the sentence of execution for murder and some other capital crimes (serious crimes, especially murder, which are punishable by death).” (Death Penalty Law, Law And Legal Definition). The death penalty has existed in America since colonial times; however, attempts to abolish or downsize the death penalty have also been around since the

The debate on the death penalty has been the ongoing question for generations. There are plenty of different sides to take on this issue. You have the side where some people think that putting prisoners to death is inhumane and that no matter what they did putting a human to death is wrong. While others may think that if the crime is extreme enough that the prisoner who committed this crime should pay for it with their own life. Throughout history there have been several instances where prisoners have been put to death in horrible, gruesome ways that would make some turn their heads toward some of these types of execution methods. The reason being because the method tortures the prisoner in the attempt to end the prisoners’ life. Although, some are not as gruesome as others, some kill the prisoner peacefully while not giving the prisoner little to no pain at all during the process. Thus, appealing to people who I agree with the death penalty but does not think that the prisoner should suffer through the procedure of getting put to death since they are already going to die. The point I’m making here is that there is a bazillion perspectives on the death penalty being in effect. Is it too humane? Are there any efficient pain free ways to end someone’s life? Should the method of killing the prisoner match the severity of the crime? These types of questions are what make this issue such a controversial topic. What side am I on? You are going to have to read my paper to find

Many factors arise that deserve attention with regards to capital punishment that I see prove that it is an invalid, and unnecessary punishment.. Deterrence always come to mind with thinking about the death penalty, and has much controversy. Research indicates that the effect of capital punishment for a crime is not informative about whether capital punishment decreases, increases, or has no effect on the crime rate. I personally believe that capital punishment is a deterrent for others from committing similar crimes. According to a study published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 88% of the country’s top criminologists do not believe the death penalty acts a

Capital punishment is also known as the death penalty in which a person is put to death because of committing a crime, such as murder, rape, and drug related. Capital punishment laws first began in the Eighteenth-Century B.C. (Introduction to the Death Penalty, 2017). At that time, the only punishment for all crimes were drowning, beating to death, and burning alive. By the Tenth-Century A.D., hanging became the most used for death penalty (Introduction to the Death Penalty, 2017). Some methods that were used as execution were boiling, burning, beheading, and drawing and quartering. More importantly, death penalty came into America because Britain influenced it onto the countries. In the earlier years, such as 1612, death penalty was used for minor cases such as stealing, and killing animals to provide their selves with food (Introduction to the Death Penalty, 2017). In the present day, most methods for death penalty are lethal injection, electrocution, lethal gas, firing squad, and hanging. Capital punishment should be legal everywhere because it will help give victims’ family closure, punish those who takes victims’ life, and the death penalty will get rid of criminals.

Capital punishment, more commonly known as the death penalty, is the government-authorized execution of a criminal as punishment for a federal crime. Currently, only fifty-eight countries in the world still utilize the death penalty, leaving one hundred and thirty-seven countries who have abolished the act. Although it is only used as punishment for capital crimes, there is a huge debate whether it is practical or moral to execute death row inmates. Many death penalty supporters will argue that it necessary for the safety of society, however, the facts and logistics behind executions say otherwise. The death penalty is not a necessary punishment in the United States because it does not deter the crime rate, it violates the Eighth Amendment, and the cost of the process is excessive.

The death penalty should remain an active form of punishment due to the fact that it is a deterrent for possible criminals and lawbreakers. Tom Head states in his article “5 Arguments for the Death Penalty” that the death penalty would act as a deterrent for homicide and crime because nobody “wants to die”. By applying the death sentence to a specific person's it prohibits them from preventing future crimes and shows possible criminals that committing heinous and abhorrent crimes will result in a severe and permanent punishment. Studies show that states that do not represent the death penalty have increased homicide rates when compared to those who use the death penalty as a form of capital punishment. David Muhlhausen, PhD, Research Fellow in Empirical Policy Analysis at the Heritage Foundation, said the following in his Oct. 4, 2014 article "Capital Punishment Works: