“Why I believe the death penalty is a valued part of our judicial system” Although the death penalty is opposed by many people, I believe capital punishment is a necessary and valued part of the judicial system for numerous reasons such as the ultimate warning message, the costs involved, and the morality of the punishment. The first reason that the death penalty is a valued part of our justice system is the notion that it serves as the ultimate warning message towards people considering crimes such as murder, or any other crime for that matter. Knowing the United States court system will not hesitate to put convicted murderers to death this would incline these would be murderers to think twice about their actions. Ernest Van Den Haag, PhD, Late Professor of Jurisprudence at Fordham University, stated, Common sense, lately bolstered by statistics, tells us that the death penalty will deter murder... People fear nothing more than death. Therefore, nothing will deter a criminal more than the fear of death... life in prison is less feared. Murderers clearly prefer it to execution -- otherwise, they would not try to be sentenced to life in prison instead of death... Therefore, a life sentence must be less deterrent than a death sentence. And we must execute murderers as long as it is merely possible that their execution protects citizens from future murder. Capital punishment sends a very strong message to potential murderers, if you commit murder then you will be
Historically, capital punishment has been used in almost every part of the world. Now, there are thirty six countries that have retained the death penalty in active use. That means that a lot of people, like Fein, agree that capital punishment is the right answer for the horrible crimes. Anything less than penalty of death will just trivialize the value of someone’s life. If someone’s did some horrible crime, like rape or murder, only way of stopping for something like that happens again is death for murderer or rapist. Yet, according to the N.C. Department of Justice, the the crime has declined in the years since executions stopped. Given this fact, there is no credible argument that the death penalty deters crime. It is hard to talk about this topic when you are not in position that you have someone that is murdered or raped. On the other hand, there are people that believe that no one is allowed to take someone’s life, no matter of any circumstances. Still, people like Fain have their arguments, and because of people like him we now have over 1300 executions that have occured in the U.S since
The death penalty is supposed to deter murder and bring the justice that the murder families of the victims should be rewarded (Hyden). Although many scientific researches can conclude that it does not deter murder and the members of the murder victims’ family have rejected/rejecting the program because it retraumatizes them with long process of trials, appeals, and of course the media (Hyden). In contrast, a sentence of life in prison is certain and instant, allowing the families to move on knowing that the justice of the crime is being served. Comparing whether or not the death penalty should be legalized, the reasons as to why it shouldn’t be, are strong enough to change one person’s mind. The death penalty still should be illegal in the United States.
Those that are for the death penalty claim that it will serve as a deterrent and is the only way for retribution against murderers. Both issues are highly debatable and have even been a subject of criticism. Punishment as a deterrence has been used for ages. This concept does work, however it should not be applied to all criminals, in my opinion. Some pro capital punishment individuals claim that it is an efficient deterrence against criminals. In an article “Death penalty is a deterrence”, the authors claim that by practicing the death penalty, violent crimes will decrease.”violent crime has declined eleven percent, with murder showing the largest decline at even more than twenty two percent. We believe that this has occurred in part because of the strong signal that the death penalty sent to violent criminals and murders.” These statistics taken from this article may be inaccurate and should be closely examined.
As Cass R states… “Capital punishment may be morally required, not for retributive reasons, but rather to prevent the taking of innocent lives”. Death penalty is one of those extreme punishments that would create fear in the mind of any person. If murderers are sentenced to death and executed, potential murderers will think twice before killing for fear of losing their own life.
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.
I think that the death penalty is a good thing to have. We don't have to take advantage of it but just having it can make some people feel safe. Although there are still many different opinions when it comes to the death penalty, we still have it to this day and we still think that is will help with the prison population and good for our society to
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).
It seems rational to think that if potential killers are aware that if they commit serious crimes they could be put to death for it, they are less likely to commit these crimes. Another strong point of this concept is the retribution and justice bestowed to society. The community demands a sense of closure, that justice be served. This is imperative for peace to be maintained. If criminals were allowed to get away with such a serious crime as the taking of human life, fear and chaos would rule. A sentence of life in prison is not substantial enough. The government must be trusted to permanently protect its innocent citizens from further crime.
Capital punishment, otherwise known as the death penalty, has been effective tool in our country’s justice system since its inception. When an inmate is given this, the harshest sentence available, it is always with just cause. Capital Punishment is an important tool in our criminal justice system today and there are several reasons it should remain in effect.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about the death penalty through facts and data regarding capital punishment, evidence has shown that states without capital punishment have lower homicide rates than states with it. According to a source found within the organization, titled “Death Penalty Doesn’t Deter Crime”, a 2009 study found that “88% of the nation’s top criminologists believe the death penalty is not a deterrent.” A large number of murders are committed with no thought of punishment, or a “heat of the moment” situation. Therefore, the thought of being executed has no effect on a murderer’s actions, unless it was a planned murder. However, the majority of murders are not planned out. There are also murderers who do not believe there will be repercussions for their crime, and they will “get away with it.” Capital punishment just simply isn’t a proper way to avoid, or lower the chances of murderous acts in any way, shape, or
The death penalty is a necessary punishment in this time of cold-blood killers that do not deserve to live because it can save taxpayers money, help victims families justification, and deters criminals from other crimes being committed.
The death penalty is something about which many people do not have a clear opinion. It is considered to be the punishment of execution, administered to someone convicted of a capital crime. Many people support the death penalty, while others wish for the death penalty to be abolished. My personal opinion on the death penalty is that it should be administered only in cases of certain crimes such as: serial murder, serial rape, and terrorism.
The death penalty is what built our world today, its been used around our world for hundreds of years. The death penalties are what built our safe country by putting all the bad criminals to justice. It has always been part of our history and it always will be. According to deathpenaltyinfo.org, “Britain influenced America’s use for the death penalty more than any other country.” The first recorded execution in the United States was Captain George Kendall, and he was executed in Jamestown, Virginia for being a spy for Spain. Today more people are against the death penalty and the use of it has declined since the 1990’s (Death Penalty Information). I believe the death penalty should only be used in certain cases and situations, such as
Studies of the deterrent effect of the death penalty have been conducted for several years, with varying results. Most studies have failed to produce evidence that the death penalty deterred murders more effectively then the threat of imprisonment. The reason for this is that few people are executed and so the death penalty is not a satisfactory deterrent. If capital punishment were carried out
The issue of the death penalty is widely disputed. So disputed that maybe I shouldn’t have picked this topic. But nevertheless, the death penalty is an issue that needs to be addressed. Should the death penalty be abolished from our criminal justice system? Well, that depends on whom you ask. If you ask me… no. I personally don’t see anything wrong with the death penalty because there are a lot of criminals that are just too dangerous to society and death is the only punishment they deserve.