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The Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

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Take-Home Final: Question 2
The death penalty has been battered backwards and forwards by the questions of abolishment and replacement, with mixed results. There seems to a jagged line in the sand on where people stand, and due to the continuous use today (albeit at a slower clip than in the past), it is still very much a prevalent topic of punishment. Those who argue for it believe that taking it away will take away a great deterrent, that families find peace, and that those who commit egregious crimes deserve only death. Anything less “would fail to do justice because the penalty – presumably a long period in prison – would be grossly disproportionate to the heinousness of the crime” (“Top 10 Pro & Con Arguments,” 2016). Those who don’t believe in this punishment as a modern-day, useful tool of deterrence and punishment for crime, continuously counter these arguments, as well as any others, daily at every turn. Though many states have made it illegal, others placing moratoriums or refusals to use it, the death penalty can still be found active today. But why can’t it be replaced with life without parole, and it if can why should it?
Against Abolishment/Replacement Kermit Alexander, whose mother, sister and her two sons were all savagely murdered in 1984, believes strongly in the death penalty. In 2016 he sent a letter, detailing his belief in the death penalty and to “ensure the worst of the worst killers receive the strongest sentence” (“Top 10 Pro & Con Arguments,”). Of

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