The Death Penalty-Is It Justice Or Just Cruel?

All of the research that I have done suggests that the death penalty is not a major source of deterrence for criminals to commit severe crimes such as homicide. In a 2009 survey of America’s top criminologists, published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology and written by Professor Michael Radelet, eighty-eight percent of the expert criminologists stated that they do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent for criminals to commit homicide. Respondents to this survey were asked to base their answers on research, rather

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.

2008 murder rate in death penalty states was 41% higher than the non-death penalty states, 2009 the murder rate was 35% higher than the non-death penalty states (Cooper, 2011). As you can see capital punishment had no influence on preventing criminals from doing illegal acts. Therefore, all of the work and energy that goes into executing a criminal in the name of justice is illogical and ineffective.

Capital Punishment is the toughest thing a natural human being can face, but in the other hand it can bring and claim justice, it dates back to too many years. There 's many historical individuals faced the capital punishment such as Saddam Hussain, Omar Al-Mukhtar, Louis XVI. Capital punishment can be defined as the authorization of killing someone because of crimes but does this Rule/Law is really efficient or inefficient? As in usual some policies can be agreed and disagreed by the individuals. There is many countries apply this rule in such crimes, for example Saudi Arabia apply this rule on who kills innocent people, gets out of the law, and terrorists in general.

This is proven to be false. According to the N.C. Department of Justice, the death penalty actually does not influence murderers to think twice before killing, in fact it does the opposite (Death Penalty Does Not Deter Crimes, 2015). As observed, states in the United States that don't use the death penalty have a lower murder rate that that of the states that do (Death Penalty Does Not Deter Crimes, 2015). For example, there was a forty six percent lower rate of murder in non-death penalty states than in death penalty states ("Death Penalty Does Not Deter Crimes.", 2015). When the United States is compared to countries that do not use the death penalty, such as Canada or nations in Europe, it also has a higher homicide rate as well. Generally homicides are committed in moments of anger and not even thinking. Criminals are commonly severe drug and alcohol users and do not generally think of the consequences of their actions. Homicides are usually committed in the heat of anger or deep emotion while either under the influence of substances or mentally ill. So when someone says it makes people think twice, that isn’t always the case. In the mind of a sane person they of course think of the consequences and do not continue to create violence. But an insane person who would actually commit a capital

　 Of course, people think death penalty is not just about the punishment. People who believe in death penalty show the reason why they do is that death penalty for sure is a deterrent to homicide. They also take this as a justification of supporting death penalty system (2010). So people actually expect something out of this system other than just killing the murderers simply for what they did. This is supposed to be a great solution to make better society by lessoning the potential crime. In theory, the fact that society has a death penalty system should somewhat scares the potential murderer and prevents them from committing murder. But the percentage of murder crime shows the otherwise. Do potential murderers consider the death penalty before they the murder? The answers are likely to be No. "Most deterrence research has found that

If a serial killer is caught and has no chance of being free, it saves lives of the people who could have been caught in their path. The death penalty will take many killers off the streets. "In summary, the recent studies using panel data techniques have confirmed what we learned decades ago: Capital punishment does, in fact, save lives. Each additional execution appears to deter between three and 18 murders," claimed David B. Muhlhausen in his testimony. Even if capital punishment only deters three murders, that is three lives that have been saved. The panel data research proves that the death penalty is not a harsh punishment because it saves the innocent lives of many citizens. It is true that, not every state agrees with the death penalty. There are 18 states that have a ban against the death penalty (Procon.org). Nevertheless, the website also states, "Throughout the 1990s, our society increased the number of executions, and the number of murders plummeted. Since 2001, there has been a decline in executions and an increase in murders." When executions are used more often, the rate of murders goes down. This also proves that the states that have the death penalty are more safe than the states that have a ban against

Many people who are supporters of the death penalty say that it’s a successful deterrent. But this isn’t true because the death penalty is administered very inconsistently and arbitrarily. “Only a small proportion of first-degree murders is sentenced to death, and even fewer are executed” (Bedau). There are also several states that have a lower criminal rate without using capital punishment. For example Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan all get along just fine without the use of the death penalty. Also “…all other Western industrial countries get along quite well without killing their citizens” (Ryan). There are many judges that are against the use of capital punishment as well.

The death penalty does not deter criminals from committing crime. Most criminals who commit crimes do not have intentions of being caught and believe that they are invincible from the repercussions of their actions. Because of this, the death penalty really does not deter criminals from committing a crime. In fact, the death penalty could be considered an “easy way out” because the criminal does not have to spend several months, years, or even the rest of his or her life behind bars with little contact with the outside world. The criminal can just die and no longer have to suffer with knowing what he or she did, how it has affected others, and how it will continue to affect his or her life. Also, many criminals end up committing suicide in prison because they do not want to have to spend every day locked in a jail cell for extended periods of time.

Some people think that abolishing the death penalty would cause criminals to commit more capital crimes. Although to some degree this is true, I believe that if a criminal is going to commit any capital crime his or her first thought is how can I get away with this? Most criminal may not even think about getting caught. For me this statement applies to the mentally ill convicts, which is one of the reasons why I’m against the death penalty. Besides the execution of an mentally ill person these are the reasons why I oppose the death penalty the death penalty is racist, the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment, the death penalty is not a deterrent to violent crime, the death penalty condemns the innocent to die, and the death penalty punishes the poor. The death penalty is a punishment to execute, which is overseen to someone who is legally convicted of a capital crime.

What if you were innocent but put at death row? Would you still want this as a system of justice? Innocent people die every year as the “justice” system isn’t just. The death penalty should be abolished considering it is a cruel punishment, which our eight amendment is clearly against.

My assumption is that the death penalty does not deter people from crime. I do not believe that the fear of receiving punishment or justice will deter murder. When people commit crimes, they do not think or care about the consequences at that time. If that were true, people would not speed on highways or do drugs in fear that they would be prosecuted. I believe that with or without capital punishment people will still commit crimes. I believe that the death penalty does not have conclusive evidence to be a tool in the criminal justice system to deter people.

Putting people to death for committing murder makes other potential murderers think twice about killing someone. Capital punishment deters many murders every day. If all that had to be done was spend life in jail, getting free meals, having a roof over their head, and place to sleep at night, then killing

Capital punishment is used predominantly for, but not exclusively to, the crime of murder. This employs the “eye for an eye” sort of belief system that has been in use for hundreds of years. This type of thinking is backed by a principle that was a key point in Machiavelli’s “The Qualities of a Prince.” Machiavelli contends that “it is much safer to be feared than loved.” This is a mindset that is shared with those who support the death penalty. This is because if one knows that they will die if they perform a certain act, they will generally be unwilling to perform that act. People who use even the slightest bit of logic and reasoning could reach the conclusion that it is better to use the threat of death to keep potential murderers from killing innocent victims than to abolish capital punishment and sacrifice innocent lives.

Probably one of the most valid points in arguing for the use of capital punishment is justice for the families. I couldn’t imagine waking up to a phone call or knock on the door saying that my family member has been murdered by someone and won’t return. Even the thought of that makes me angry to begin with. I know my first thoughts would be to end the life that took one that was innocent. Blind rage and anger make you have irrational feelings that demand action but it is called ‘blind’ rage because that is simply blind. I realize that people would argue my feelings would be completely