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The Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

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“There were eleven votes for “guilty”. It’s not easy for me to raise my hand and send a boy off to die without talking about it first” (Rose). The death penalty is a punishment of execution given to criminals convicted of heinous crimes. Since 1976, 1,463 people have been executed by the death penalty (Death Penalty Information Center). As of November 2016, there are 31 states that still implement the death penalty, 19 that have abolished the death penalty and 4 states with gubernatorial moratoria. Some people believe that the death penalty should be used as a form of punishment, while others believe that the death penalty is immoral and should not be used as a punishment. According to some people, the death penalty should be used …show more content…

...This doesn't justify the popular view that killers should be killed, any more than it would support the idea that rapists should be raped or thieves stolen from. To be just, retribution must be measured and restrained. That's the difference between justice and revenge…” Life in prison and no life at all are so similar that a criminal won’t be deterred by the death penalty as a punishment. Also, the death penalty does not provide justice, but provides revenge for those that were close to the victim. In The Crucible many of the accused refused to confess to witchcraft even though they knew they would hang. They did not fear death and some even welcomed death like Corey Giles asking for more weight (Miller). They were so firm in their the beliefs and would rather die than be condemned as a liar. They did not let the fear of death deter them from their beliefs. While many religions do not promote the use of the death penalty, the Puritan religion, as shown in The Crucible, does promote the use of the death penalty for breaking the law of the Bible. As Judge Danforth says, “Now, children, this is a court of law. The law, based upon the Bible, and the Bible, writ by Almighty God, forbid the practice of witchcraft, and describe death as the penalty thereof” (Miller). After considering both sides of the issue, I have decided that I believe the death

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