The Death Penalty Is Not A Justifiable Or Moral Punishment

America is within the top four countries for the number of executions due to the death penalty since 1999. Citing the, “Amnesty International in For What Tomorrow (2004), more than 1,800 people were executed in 31 countries, the vast majority of these in China (1076), Iran (165), Saudi Arabia (103), and then the United States (98)” (NAAS, 43). The death penalty is currently an intense debate involving the idea of whether or not we as people should be able to sentence another person to death. According to the ethical and moral reasoning of the philosophers Jeremy Bentham, Peter Singer, and Hugo Bedau, the death penalty should not be a legal punishment.

The death penalty has been considered one of the most severe punishments by governments. However, recently, many people have rebelled against the death penalty. The death penalty is an act that is similar to being ruled under fascism instead of democracy. Under the rule of democracy, citizens are responsible for the acts of other fellow citizens, which can be inferred that crime is caused by the lack of responsibility in society. The victim's loved ones suffer due to the victim's death. It is understandable that they would want the murderer dead, but society often does not work that way. People need to think on behalf of the society.

The death penalty how much does society really knows or understand about the process? Many people view the death penalty a justice “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” They it is justice and feels safe because of the option of the death penalty; however, most do not really know much about the process of executing a death row inmate, how much more the death penalty cost comparing with keeping an inmate in prison for life without parole. The death penalty is unethical and waste of millions of dollars, because the death penalty is a very slow process, and waste of tax payers’ money.

Hickock was able to use this to his advantage, often referring to Smith as “honey,” to appeal to his attraction (15). Hickock was the one who wanted to rob the Clutters originally; he was the one who obtained the information, albeit false, from Floyd Wells. Smith was persuaded later to help out, most likely by Hickock promising him a hefty sum from the job. Later, at the Clutters’ abode, Smith told Hickock, “‘these people are telling the truth. The one who lied is your friend Floyd Wells. There isn’t any safe, so let’s get the hell out of here,’” but, “He said he wouldn’t believe it till we searched the whole house,” and then, “says Dick, after we’ve found the safe, we’ll cut their throats” (239). Smith preferred not to kill them, and told Hickock he wanted to leave, but he refused to leave and insisted that they should continue searching and then kill them. Hickock directed Smith to murder the Clutters, which according to the wording of the law, proves he is guilty of this aggravating circumstance.

1. What year and in what case did the US Supreme Court decide that the administration of the death penalty was unconstitutional? Provide a compelling statement form the opinion in this case.

For thousands of years, punishment for crime has been met with several different styles of execution. In 1976, the United States government reinstalled the death penalty four short years after having banned it claiming that it "violated the Constitution 's ban on cruel and unusual punishment" (MacKinnon, "Ethics" 289). Since 1976, the morality of execution as just punishment has been a highly discussed topic. The death penalty is not morally permissible because dissolving one 's basic human right to life is wrong.

The death penalty is a punishment given to people who commit heinous crimes. Since 1976, there have been over 1,390 executions. But does that make the death penalty, necessarily, a correct and justifiable form of punishment? “The death penalty is our harshest punishment,” states Ernest van den Haag, author of “The Ultimate Punishment: a Defense.” Van den Haag, in his article, argues how the death penalty is effective and should be used. However, Jack Greenberg, James P. Gray, and Jeffery Reiman, all concur that the death penalty should not be used as a punishment for criminals. Jack Greenberg, author of “Against the American System of Capital Punishment,” argues how the death penalty is an

“To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice.” -Desmond Tutu

The death penalty is a topic where many will come to a disagreement. In one hand, some may feel that it brings no closure to families of victims. In the other hand, there’s people who can testify to feeling or wanting to feel closure with the person who hurt their loved one dead. In some places, there’s evidence of the deterrent theory to be true and to not be true. Also, there’s facts that state that the death penalty violates human rights but at the same time, there’s facts that state that it saves lives. Lastly, there’s evidence that justice is and isn’t served when it comes down to the death penalty. There’s good and bad when it comes to the death penalty, closure or no closure, crime rates go lower or higher, and justice is either served

The Death Penalty is wrong, because death is bad no matter who does it. It is bad if the Government kills someone with a lethal injection. It is about the same as someone murdering people. This Essay will talk about things that are believed and things that have been researched. These facts are irrevocable mistakes, no legalized murder, and it is a little effective that it scares criminals.

It is bothersome to know that while students are making out in the hallways with minor penalties, a man was publicly humiliated for kissing his wife in public (Cox). Acts like this were punished commonly during the colonial times. In the early American colonies, religious authorities established punishments for actions they presumed to be crimes, but as time passed, laws evolved to protect people from cruel and unusual punishments. The colonial treatments were harsh, cruel and inhumane. These treatments, more commonly known as punishments, included public humiliation and the even death penalty. Juries would let the presumed criminal be released as innocent to prevent the person from the death penalty (Lynch). This resulted in a flawed and unjust government. As a response to the actions of the jurors criminal justice and laws evolved slowly over time; therefore, protecting people.

There has been both a political and personal interest when it came to the death penalty and how people felt about it. There is a lot of states that currently still allow the death penalty and very few of them that finally disallowed the death penalty. I personally feel that the death penalty is wrong no matter who is taking someone's life.

Capital Punishment was adopted by America when the state of Virginia carried out the colonies’ first execution in 1608 (“History of the Death Penalty”). Since then, usage of the death penalty has been instituted by 36 states, making execution the ultimate form of punishment. Although in theory the death penalty seems like a viable method of punishment, in practice, it has serious flaws that damage the integrity of the state. Capital Punishment has been falsely idolized as a deterrent, applied unfairly for generations, used as a vehicle for revenge, and made people blind to the fact that life in prison without parole is an equally acceptable form of punishment. The death penalty is an

Madison Hobley was sentenced to death based on a coerced confession. He was wrongly accused of starting a fire, which killed his wife and child and some others (Six). He was tortured by the police, they hand cuffed him to a wall ring and beat him, then he was taken downtown, where he was handcuffed to a chair and kicked by Sgt. Patrick Garrity (Six). Then they suffocated him with a typewriter cover until he blacked out (Six). Hobley never confessed and nor was he evidence proven that he did it was valid (Six). In 2002 there was hearing that discovered evidence that the jury was intimidated and that the gas canister they said he bought was actually put at the crime scene and had no signs of being burned (Six). Mobley was on death row

They say the death penalty is inhumane, but people will never know unless they have someone close to them killed, raped, mutilated in ways that couldn’t even be replicated in the movie theaters. Who could possibly be qualified to make such a judgment? Is it judges or jurors? Is it even ethically or morally correct to do so? Since the beginning of time, different methods of execution have been used. These forms have been hanging, guillotine, gas chambers, electric chair, drowning, torched, and firing squads. The first recorded execution was in 1608 and it was for treason. The creator of the death penalty was King Hammurabi of Babylon, and it could be issued for 25 different crimes. Throughout time the British improvised it and it influenced every other country, specially the United States. Some countries use it as a form of population control, others as a show of force. But even still to this day, the world is still individually split on whether they should keep the death penalty or abolish it. The reason people still to this day argue the fact that the capital punishment should be used, is because it bring a sense of satisfaction to the family of the victim, it puts fear within society’s, it eliminates over crowdedness within the prisons, and the mental and physical stress inmates go through. However, people argue it should be abolished because it doesn’t deter crime; there is a chance of executing the wrong individual, cost to taxpayers, discrimination against skin color,