The Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

In this paper I will be discussing everything you need to know about the death penalty such as its pros and cons. While the innocent can be killed, the death penalty has its pros because it prevents them from killing again if they are released or have escaped from prison, it helps overpopulated prisons, and it can help victims’ families get justice and closure. Not only can the innocent be killed, but in the past the death penalty was very inhumane. To some its feels right but to others they feel like 2 wrongs don’t make a right. Most people think that the defendant deserves the death penalty, but what does the defendants’ family think?

Death is something that a lot of people think about, but do people think about the Death Penalty? Having been given the death penalty means that someone is going to be put to death by a lethal injection or an electric chair; There are more ways, but the injection and the electric chair are the most used. There are many different opinions surrounding the idea of death penalties; which some people think the death penalty should be used more and some believe the complete opposite.

“We oppose the death penalty for what it does to those guilty of heinous crimes, but for what it does to all of us; it offers the tragic illusion that we can defend life by taking life” by Joseph Fiorenza states that the death penalty is cruel and unjust. It may take lives of all those who are wrongfully convicted and may cost people millions of dollars. However, some may argue that the death of a criminal may bring closure to families of victims.

In Kellow Chesney's book The Victorian Underworld illustrates that the Victorians tried to use the death penalty as a means of controlling criminal elements in forms of hangings, lethal injection,Electrocution, and firing squads in order to prevent crime( the victorian underworld). in Victorian times, the death penalty was used as a means of controlling. There should be abolishment of this because of the countless innocent men and women being put to death for the stated purpose of preventing crime out of fear. So There should not be a death penalty because it violates human rights, it does not deter crime, and is a cruel and unusual punishment.

The world is constantly evolving for the better and the worse, with this being said, not only will good come out of it but new evils will arise. We can’t stop the world from changing, but we can decide how we handle it. The death penalty should be legalized all around the world. The death penalty not only diminishes threats to society but it also brings closure to those who are grieving. In the United States alone, the death penalty is not legal in all 50 states, therefore overrunning the prisons with unnecessary bodies. Due to this, there has been an overall increase in the gang activity within state and federal prison. The death penalty shows that violent, brutal, and heinous crimes will not be tolerated and the offenders will be punished to the highest extent. Execution should be used as the highest form of punishment by the means of a rightful conviction.

What is the death penalty? The death penalty is a punishment of execution. There are many methods of executions, such as lethal injection, beheading, hanging, electrocution, or shooting in the back of the head, either by one person or a firing squad. Many people have different opinions on the death penalty, whether it should be legal or not. The death penalty argument in the US has left the country divided for a long time. There are thirty-three states where the death penalty is legal and seventeen states have abolished it. In my opinion, the death penalty shouldn’t be legal throughout the entire country. It breaches basic human rights: the right to life and the right to live free from torture. There are multiple reasons why the death penalty shouldn’t be legalized, including, arbitrary, fallibility, high cost, and deterrence.

The death penalty also known as capital punishment ,happens when the court makes the decision to put a prisoner on death row. Soon it will be the prisoner's time to be executed. On Deathpenaltyinfo.org they show the top five execution methods. #1 is lethal injection (injecting poisons into the bodies, #2 is electrocution A.K.A the electric chair, #3 is the gas chamber, #4 is where prisoners are strapped to a chair while executioners use them to practice shooting, finally #5 is hanging but the prisoners are normally injected first.

Have you ever thought of someone murdering a family member? If so would you want them to be on death row? Putting someone on death row creates another murderer which is why the death penalty should NOT be allowed.

One reason why the death penalty should be used is, it provides closure and sympathy for the victim’s family in a murder case, stopping a “horrible chapter in the lives of these family members.”(Death Penalty Cost, 2017) Execution could offer a “feeling of relief” for grieving families.(Messerli, 2017) The death penalty cannot comfort or bring back the victims but can provide sympathy for victims’ families.(5 Argument, 2015) Not only does the family get closure, but the death penalty murders the criminal, as the criminal killed the victim. The death penalty also provides a sense of an eye for an eye.

“An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” is how the phrase goes. Belonging to Hammurabi’s code, this ancient motto has become the basis of a great political debate over the past few decades - the death penalty (US History). The legal definition of the death penalty, also known as capital punishment, is a sentence of execution for murder, treason, and other capital crimes, which are punishable by death (Legal Information Institute). This is an issue that has the United States quite divided. While there are many supporters of the death penalty, there is also a large amount of opposition. Currently, there are thirty-two states in which the death penalty is legal and there are eighteen states that have abolished it (Death Penalty Information Center).

In the United States, the argument on whether the death penalty is constitutional or un constitutional stands strongly. While there are many supporters of it, there will always be some opposing the death penalty. As of today, there are thirty one states allowing the death penalty and nineteen states who have abolished it (Pennekamp). For the worst crimes, the death penalty is the more appropriate sentence, for many reasons. My stance for the death penalty is not only for the sympathy of the victims or victims’ families but include deterrence of crime, retribution, and morality. The opposing arguments in my case do not hold up, which includes myself refuting the ideas that the death penalty is unconstitutional.

A homicidal maniac should be punished, not with a life sentence, but death. The death penalty should be allowed in all of the fifty states, criminality is unacceptable. It sets an example for anyone else that would possibly break the law. Furthermore, a dead convict couldn’t commit more crimes in prison, which would only add more years to their life sentence. Lastly, it gives the victim’s acquaintances a sense of justice for their dead, injured, or any way of loss loved ones.

The Death Penalty is also known as Capital Punishment, where an offender is punished for their crime, done by the state by taking their life. Although many countries have abolished the death penalty, it still exists in few countries, including the United States. Some oppose the death penalty believing it to be morally unjust for those who are indeed innocent but are under the death penalty. Many philosophers believe it is necessary for punishment to deter crime and this punishment is justice for the victim. Haag was a professor at Fordham University, and supported the death penalty very strongly. He strongly believed that offenders needed to be punished severely to satisfy retributive justice. Hugo Adam Bedau was a philosophy professor at Tufts University. Unlike Haag he opposed the death penalty based on morality issues. He questioned the moral values of death penalty and believes in the natural right to life .

Majority of Americans have a clear and very strong opinion when discussing the death penalty, regardless of their side of the argument they stand on. Those who support this penalty claim that it serves as a disincentive to crime and that rightful justice is being executed or that it is more cost effective to execute the death penalty rather than a criminal serve a “life without parole” sentence. Personally, I feel that the death penalty is an ineffective, morally wrong punishment that does more harm than good to society. The objective of the death penalty is supposedly supposed to serve as a deterrent to others wo are contemplating committing the same crime or similar crime. In countries other than the U.S., for example, disprove this. In the countries, where the death penalty doesn’t exist, murders and other violent crimes that “deserve” the death penalty are at a much lower rate than in the United States. True, it seems redundant nevertheless, the evidence is clear.

Although some do believe that we should take a life for a life taken, the death penalty isn’t the best option. The death penalty is a capital punishment where a person is put to death. Not only is the death penalty a very expensive process, but also, many lives that are taken are found to be innocent. Also, many find the death penalty more inviting than to have life in prison without parole.