argumentative essay about should death penalty be legalized

“Six-in-ten U.S. adults strongly or somewhat favor the death penalty for convicted murderers, according to the April 2021 survey. A similar share (64%) say the death penalty is morally justified when someone commits a crime like murder. Support for capital punishment is strongly associated with the view that it is morally justified in certain cases. Nine-in-ten of those who favor the death penalty say it is morally justified when someone commits a crime like murder; only a quarter of those who oppose capital punishment see it as morally justified.” July 19, 2021

Ian Millhiser, Senior Correspondent at Vox, in a Dec. 30, 2020 article, “The Decline and Fall of the American Death Penalty,” available at vox.com, stated:

“Fewer people were executed in 2020 than in any year for nearly three decades, and fewer people were sentenced to die than at any point since the Supreme Court created the modern legal framework governing the death penalty in 1976… One significant reason so few people were executed in 2020 is the Covid-19 pandemic — which has slowed court proceedings and turned gathering prison officials and witnesses for an execution into a dangerous event for everyone involved. But even if 2020 is an outlier year due to the pandemic, DPIC’s [Death Penalty Information Center’s] data shows a sharp and consistent trend away from the death penalty since the number of capital sentences peaked in the 1990s. In total, only 17 people were executed in 2020, a number that would be much lower if not for the Trump administration resuming federal executions this year for the first time in nearly two decades. 2020 is the first year in American history when the federal government executed more people than all of the states combined: 10 of the 17 people executed in 2020 were killed by the federal government. Only five states — Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, and Tennessee — conducted executions in 2020. And of these five states, only one, Texas, killed more than one person on death row. The trend away from new death sentences and executions has continued despite two recent significant pro-death penalty opinions from the Supreme Court. The Court’s decisions in Glossip v. Gross (2015) and especially in Bucklew v. Precythe (2019) make it much more difficult for death row inmates to claim their executions violate the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishments.” Dec. 30, 2020

The late Roger Hood, PhD, Professor at the Centre for Criminological Research at the University of Oxford, in an Encyclopaedia Britannica entry, “Capital Punishment,” last edited on Mar. 25, 2021 and available at britannica.com, stated:

“[C]apital punishment, also called death penalty, [is the] execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense. Capital punishment should be distinguished from extrajudicial executions carried out without due process of law. The term death penalty is sometimes used interchangeably with capital punishment, though imposition of the penalty is not always followed by execution (even when it is upheld on appeal), because of the possibility of commutation to life imprisonment” Mar. 25, 2021

Jeffrey A. Rosen, JD, Former Deputy Attorney General in the Trump Administration, in a July 27, 2020 article, “The Death Penalty Can Ensure ‘Justice Is Being Done,'” available at nytimes.com, stated:

“The death penalty is a difficult issue for many Americans on moral, religious and policy grounds. But as a legal issue, it is straightforward. The United States Constitution expressly contemplates ‘capital’ crimes, and Congress has authorized the death penalty for serious federal offenses since President George Washington signed the Crimes Act of 1790. The American people have repeatedly ratified that decision, including through the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 signed by President Bill Clinton, the federal execution of Timothy McVeigh under President George W. Bush and the decision by President Barack Obama’s Justice Department to seek the death penalty against the Boston Marathon bomber and Dylann Roof. The recent executions reflect that consensus, as the Justice Department has an obligation to carry out the law. The decision to seek the death penalty against Mr. Lee was made by Attorney General Janet Reno (who said she personally opposed the death penalty but was bound by the law) and reaffirmed by Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder. Mr. Purkey was prosecuted during the George W. Bush administration, and his conviction and sentence were vigorously defended throughout the Obama administration. The judge who imposed the death sentence on Mr. Honken, Mark Bennett, said that while he generally opposed the death penalty, he would not lose any sleep over Mr. Honken’s execution.” July 27, 2020

Charles Stimson, JD, Acting Chief of Staff and Senior Legal Fellow of the Heritage Foundation, in a Dec. 20, 2019 article, “The Death Penalty Is Appropriate,” available at heritage.org, stated:

“There are, to be sure, heartfelt arguments for people to be against the death penalty, not the least of which are religious, moral, or other reasons and beliefs. There are also valid arguments regarding the historical use of the death penalty against minorities, especially in the South. Yet a majority of Americans, quite reasonably, support the death penalty in appropriate cases, and believe that, despite its imperfections, it is constitutional… But for the death penalty to be applied fairly, we must strive to make the criminal justice system work as it was intended. We should all agree that all defendants in capital cases should have competent and zealous lawyers representing them at all stages in the trial and appeals process. Any remnant of racism in the criminal justice system is wrong, and we should work to eliminate it. Nobody is in favor of racist prosecutors, bad judges or incompetent defense attorneys. If problems arise in particular cases, they should be corrected—and often are. That said, the death penalty serves three legitimate penological objectives: general deterrence, specific deterrence, and retribution.” Dec. 20, 2019

George Brauchler, JD, District Attorney of the 18th Judicial District in Colorado, wrote in a Mar. 1, 2019 opinion article titled “Coloradans Should Have the Final Say on the Death Penalty (and I’d Hope They Keep It),” available at denverpost.com:

“There are good reasons to maintain capital punishment in our state… The paramount goal of sentencing is the imposition of justice. Sometimes, justice is dismissing a charge, granting a plea bargain, expunging a past conviction, seeking a prison sentence, or — in a very few cases, for the worst of the worst murderers — sometimes, justice is death… A drug cartel member who murders a rival cartel member faces life in prison without parole. What if he murders two, three, or 12 people? Or the victim is a child or multiple children? What if the murder was preceded by torture or rape? How about a serial killer? Or a terrorist who kills dozens, hundreds or thousands? The repeal of the death penalty treats all murders as the same. Once a person commits a single act of murder, each additional murder is a freebie. That is not justice.” Mar. 1, 2019

Paul Muschick, columnist, reporter, and editor at The Morning Call , wrote in his June 28, 2018 opinion article titled “Pennsylvania’s Death Penalty System Should Be Strengthened, Not Abolished, Amid Newly Raised Concerns,” available at mcall.com:

“Sometimes, there is no doubt that people are killers because their sins are recorded by surveillance cameras or bystanders’ phones. With that evidence, other than mental illness, there’s no reason not to execute those who commit the most horrific crimes… While executions are rare, having the death penalty can be a bargaining chip for authorities as they investigate crimes… It’s also necessary to have capital punishment because some crimes simply are so horrific that any other punishment, including life in a cage, is insufficient.” June 28, 2018

Anne Marie Schubert, JD, Sacramento County District Attorney, stated the following in her July 20, 2016 article titled “California’s Broken Death Penalty System Can Be Fixed,” available at sacbee.com:

“In our experience, most survivors want ‘justice’ for the murderers of their family members. Repealing the death penalty will not heal these peoples’ wounds; it keeps them permanently open… Moreover, victims’ families will always be haunted by the specter that an inmate sentenced to life without parole will suddenly ask the governor to reduce a sentence – as happened recently in the case of a Fresno murderer who waited 36 years and applied for clemency. As long as an inmate sentenced to life without parole lives, the governor could reduce the sentence and a murderer may be released on the streets… [It] is dead wrong to assert that the death penalty has been conclusively shown not to deter crime. Experience and common sense confirm a deterrent effect.” July 20, 2016

Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States, stated the following in a May 11, 2016 appearance on Fox & Friends , available at YouTube.com:

“The death penalty. It should be brought back and it should be brought back strong… They say it’s not a deterrent. Well, you know what, maybe it’s not a deterrent but these two [men convicted of killing two police officers in Hattiesburg, MS] will not do any more killing. That’s for sure.” May 11, 2016

The Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association stated the following in an article on its website titled “Reform, Don’t Repeal, the Death Penalty” (accessed Mar. 10, 2017):

“[G]iving up on the death penalty would mean giving up on justice for crime victims and their families. The prisoners currently on California’s death row have murdered more than 1,000 people. Of those, 229 were children, 43 were peace officers, and 294 of the victims were sexually assaulted and tortured. Having a functional death penalty law will help us protect the public from society’s worst criminals and bring some measure of closure to the families whose loved ones were cruelly taken from them.” Mar. 10, 2017

Bruce Fein, JD, General Counsel for the Center for Law and Accountability, in an American Bar Association website article titled “Individual Rights and Responsibility – The Death Penalty, But Sparingly” (accessed June 17, 2008), offered the following:

“Abolitionists may contend that the death penalty is inherently immoral because governments should never take human life, no matter what the provocation. But that is an article of faith, not of fact, just like the opposite position held by abolitionist detractors, including myself… The death penalty honors human dignity by treating the defendant as a free moral actor able to control his own destiny for good or for ill; it does not treat him as an animal with no moral sense, and thus subject even to butchery to satiate human gluttony. Moreover, capital punishment celebrates the dignity of the humans whose lives were ended by the defendant’s predation.” June 17, 2008

Steven D. Stewart, JD, Clark County Prosecuting Attorney, in an Office of the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s website section (accessed Apr. 5, 2017) and titled “A Message from the Prosecuting Attorney,” offered the following:

“Along with two-thirds of the American public, I believe in capital punishment. I believe that there are some defendants who have earned the ultimate punishment our society has to offer by committing murder with aggravating circumstances present. I believe life is sacred. It cheapens the life of an innocent murder victim to say that society has no right to keep the murderer from ever killing again. In my view, society has not only the right, but the duty to act in self defense to protect the innocent.” Apr. 5, 2017

Cass R. Sunstein, JD, Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard University Law School, in a Mar. 2005 Stanford Law Review article cowritten with Adrian Vermeule and titled “Is Capital Punishment Morally Required? Acts, Omissions and Life-Life Tradeoffs,” wrote the following:

“[O]n certain empirical assumptions, capital punishment may be morally required, not for retributive reasons, but rather to prevent the taking of innocent lives. In so saying, we are suggesting the possibility that states are obliged to maintain the death penalty option.” Mar. 2005

Atul Gawande, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, in a Mar. 23, 2006 New England Journal of Medicine article titled “When Law and Ethics Collide — Why Physicians Participate in Executions,” wrote the following:

“I have personally been in favor of the death penalty. I was a senior official in the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign and in the administration, and in that role I defended the President’s stance in support of capital punishment. I have no illusions that the death penalty deters anyone from murder. I also have great concern about the ability of our justice system to avoid putting someone innocent to death. However, I believe there are some human beings who do such evil as to deserve to die. I am not troubled that Timothy McVeigh was executed for the 168 people he had killed in the Oklahoma City bombing, or that John Wayne Gacy was for committing 33 murders.” Mar. 23, 2006

David B. Muhlhausen, PhD, Senior Policy Analyst at the Center for Data Analysis of the Heritage Foundation, in an Aug. 28, 2007 Heritage Foundation website article titled “The Death Penalty Deters Crime and Saves Lives,” wrote the following:

“While opponents of capital punishment allege that it is unfairly used against African–Americans, each additional execution deters the murder of 1.5 African–Americans. Further moratoria, commuted sentences, and death row removals appear to increase the incidence of murder… Americans support capital punishment for two good reasons. First, there is little evidence to suggest that minorities are treated unfairly. Second, capital punishment produces a strong deterrent effect that saves lives.” Aug. 28, 2007

Louis P. Pojman, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at West Point Military Academy, in an essay titled “Why the Death Penalty Is Morally Permissible,” from the 2004 book edited by Adam Bedau and titled Debating the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital Punishment? The Experts on Both Sides Make Their Best Case , wrote:

“Public executions of the convicted murderer would serve as a reminder that crime does not pay. Public executions of criminals seem an efficient way to communicate the message that if you shed innocent blood, you will pay a high price… I agree… on the matter of accountability but also believe such publicity would serve to deter homicide.” 2004

Parmatmananda Saraswati, Co-ordinator of the Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, in an Oct./Nov./Dec. 2006 Hinduism Today article titled “Capital Punishment: Time to Abandon It?,” wrote the following:

“Capital punishment is allowed under Hindu tradition. Lord Rama is the embodiment of dharma, yet he killed King Bali, who had stolen his own brother’s wife… Sometimes I feel that the crimes today are even more heinous than in the past. Hence capital punishment, if sanctioned by the scriptures, should continue.” Oct./Nov./Dec. 2006

Cori Bush, US Representative (D-MO), in a Dec. 14, 2020 article, “Joe Biden Says He Opposes the Death Penalty. He Can Help End It with the Stroke of a Pen,” available at time.com, stated:

“Ending the death penalty is about justice. It’s about mercy. It’s about putting a stop to this nation’s dark history of lynching and slavery. It’s about making it clear that our government should not have the power to end a life. We must build a fair criminal-legal system on a foundation of mercy, due process and equity. We must break the cycles of death, devastation and trauma that have broken Black and brown communities like mine.” Dec. 14, 2020

Elliot Williams, JD, CNN legal analyst and Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Justice Department, in a Dec. 13, 2020 article, “The Death Penalty Confuses Vengeance with Justice, and It’s Time to End It,” available at cnn.com, stated:

“It is time to end the federal death penalty. Last week, the federal government executed two men within nearly 24 hours. What’s striking here is the timing. The deaths of Alfred Bourgeois and Brandon Bernard mark the first time the death penalty has been imposed during the lame-duck period since 1889, when Grover Cleveland was President — before the bottle cap or the diesel engine were even invented. The executions come more than a year after Attorney General William Barr directed the federal government to reinstate the death penalty for the first time in nearly 20 years. The fact that an attorney general can decide to commence the federal death penalty after years without it, or that the United States has a century-plus-old practice of suspending it at certain points in the political calendar tells us everything that is wrong with the practice. The death penalty is unique in the law — despite its finality, it is politically fraught, inconsistently applied, subject to the basest human impulses, and a relic of the ugliest elements baked into our criminal justice system.” Dec. 13, 2020

Jared Olsen, JD, Wyoming State Representative (R), in a July 29, 2019 article, “I’m a Republican and I Oppose Restarting Federal Executions,” available at nytimes.com, stated:

“A long-held stereotype is that conservatives in this country favor capital punishment, while liberals oppose it. But that doesn’t accord with reality: In recent years, more conservatives have come to realize that capital punishment conflicts irreconcilably with their principles of valuing life, fiscal responsibility and limited government. Many conservatives also recognize that the death penalty inflicts extreme and unnecessary trauma on the family members of victims and the correctional employees who have the job of taking the prisoner’s life.” July 29, 2019

Kamala Harris, JD, US Senator (D-CA), said in a Mar. 13, 2019 statement titled “Senator Kamala Harris on California Death Penalty Moratorium,” available at harris.senate.gov:

“As a career law enforcement official, I have opposed the death penalty because it is immoral, discriminatory, ineffective, and a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars… Black and Latino defendants are far more likely to be executed than their white counterparts. Poor defendants without a team of lawyers are far more likely to enter death row than those with strong representation. Your race or your bank account shouldn’t determine your sentence. It is also a waste of taxpayer money. The California Legislative Analyst’s office estimates that California would save $150 million a year if it replaced the death penalty with a sentence of life without parole. That’s money that could go into schools, health care, or restorative justice programs.” Mar. 13, 2019

Gavin Newsom, Governor of California (D), made the following statement on Mar. 13, 2019 when he announced a moratorium on the death penalty in the state and closed the execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison, available at gov.ca.gov:

“The intentional killing of another person is wrong and as Governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual. Our death penalty system has been, by all measures, a failure. It has discriminated against defendants who are mentally ill, black and brown, or can’t afford expensive legal representation. It has provided no public safety benefit or value as a deterrent. It has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars. Most of all, the death penalty is absolute. It’s irreversible and irreparable in the event of human error.” Mar. 13, 2019

Pope Francis, 266th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, stated the following as quoted in a June 22, 2016 article titled “Francis’ Video Message at a Congress Against the Death Penalty – An Offence to the Inviolability of Life,” available at the official Vatican news website news.va:

“Indeed, nowadays the death penalty is unacceptable, however grave the crime of the convicted person. It is an offence to the inviolability of life and to the dignity of the human person; it likewise contradicts God’s plan for individuals and society, and his merciful justice. Nor is it consonant with any just purpose of punishment. It does not render justice to victims, but instead fosters vengeance. The commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ has absolute value and applies both to the innocent and to the guilty… It must not be forgotten that the inviolable and God-given right to life also belongs to the criminal.” June 22, 2016

Ron Briggs, Former District IV Supervisor of El Dorado County in California, stated the following in his July 7, 2016 article titled “Death Penalty Is Destructive to California,” available at sacbee.com:

“Though I was once California’s biggest proponent of the death penalty, I now feel compelled to admit the policy is destructive to our great state. What we didn’t know then is that the death penalty would become an industry that benefits only attorneys and criminals, and no one else. It’s an extreme expense to taxpayers, does not make our communities safer and fails to deliver the justice it promised. Since the initiative became law, California taxpayers have unknowingly spent more than $5 billion to maintain a death row that now houses 747 convicted criminals. During this time, only 13 people have been put to death, at an eye-popping price tag of $384 million per execution… New studies conclusively show that the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime. My family and I believed the death penalty would serve as the ultimate warning to criminals, but nearly 40 years of evidence proves it does not work.” July 7, 2016

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, PhD, United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated the following in a Mar. 1, 2017, speech to the 34th Session of the Human Rights Council, available at ohchr.org:

“International and national bodies have determined that several methods of execution are likely to violate the prohibition of torture, because of the pain and suffering they are likely to inflict on the convicted person. Studies of the severe pain and suffering caused by other methods has continued to extend this list, to the point where it has become increasingly difficult for a State to impose the death penalty without violating international human rights law. The long and highly stressful period that most individuals endure while waiting on ‘death row’ for years, or even decades, and frequently in isolation, for an uncertain outcome, has also been referenced as constituting torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment… Furthermore, when the authorities fail to give adequate information about the timing of executions, they maintain not only the convicted person but also his children and other family members in permanent anticipation of imminent death. This acute mental distress, which may be compounded by failure to return the body to families for burial, or inform them of the location of burial, is unjustifiable… There are many reasons why we should move away from the death penalty, starting with its capricious and frequently discriminatory application, and its failure to demonstrate any deterrent effect beyond that of other punishments. The severe mental and physical suffering which are inflicted by capital punishment on the person concerned and family members should now be added to the weight of the argument. The use of the death penalty should be ended.” Mar. 1, 2017

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in section on its website titled “The Death Penalty: Questions and Answers,” (accessed Mar. 27, 2017) stated the following:

“The death penalty has no deterrent effect. Claims that each execution deters a certain number of murders have been thoroughly discredited by social science research… In civilized society, we reject the principle of literally doing to criminals what they do to their victims: The penalty for rape cannot be rape, or for arson, the burning down of the arsonist’s house. We should not, therefore, punish the murderer with death… Capital punishment is a barbaric remnant of uncivilized society. It is immoral in principle, and unfair and discriminatory in practice. It assures the execution of some innocent people. As a remedy for crime, it has no purpose and no effect. Capital punishment ought to be abolished now.” Mar. 27, 2017

Bloomberg View wrote in its Feb. 23, 2014 editorial “Ban the Death Penalty” at bloombergview.com:

“Executions should be banned by act of Congress for this simple reason: Experience has shown that the death penalty doesn’t serve the cause of justice… How likely is it, really, that a killer will be more deterred by the risk of the death penalty than by having to spend the rest of his life in prison? The claim fails the test of common sense. Criminologists and police chiefs say the death penalty just doesn’t influence murderers — partly because its application is so haphazard… It’s true that the purpose of punishment is not only deterrence but also retribution. But 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… The extraordinary crimes that would justify the death penalty are difficult to imagine, much less define, before the fact. And, even in exceptional cases, the requirement to prove guilt beyond any doubt is hard to satisfy. (What does ‘beyond any doubt’ actually mean? Is a psychopath guilty beyond any doubt?) Let’s allow that it would have been right to execute Hitler. But let’s also recognize that restricting the death penalty to the few cases where it would be both just and safe is impractical. The best pragmatic course is not to use the death penalty more sparingly but to abolish it outright.” Feb. 23, 2014

The Economist magazine, in a Dec. 14, 2005 The Economist article titled “After Tookie,” offered the following:

“The Economist opposes the death penalty: state-sponsored killing is inhuman, its effectiveness as a deterrent is at best unproven and it is no less prone to miscarriages of justice than more easily reversible sentences. We would not under any circumstances have wanted to execute Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams, who was killed by lethal injection in San Quentin this week.” Dec. 14, 2005

Death Penalty Focus, an abolition of capital punishment advocacy organization, in its GuideStar.org entry (accessed Apr. 5, 2017), offered the following:

“We believe that the death penalty is an ineffective, cruel, and simplistic response to the serious and complex problem of violent crime. It institutionalizes discrimination against the poor and people of color, diverts attention and financial resources away from preventative measures that would actually increase public safety, risks the execution of innocent people, and does not deter crime. We are convinced that when the electorate is informed about the true human and financial costs associated with state-sanctioned killing, the United States will join the majority of nations throughout the world who have abolished it.” Apr. 5, 2017

The Lancet , a British peer-reviewed medical journal, in an Apr. 16, 2005 editorial titled “Medical Collusion in the Death Penalty: An American Atrocity,” offered the following:

“Capital punishment is not only an atrocity, but also a stain on the record of the world’s most powerful democracy. Doctors should not be in the job of killing. Those who do participate in this barbaric act are shameful examples of how a profession has allowed its values to be corrupted by state violence.” Apr. 16, 2005

Amnesty International, in a website section titled “Death Penalty Q&A,” available at www.amnesty.org (accessed Apr. 5, 2017), offered the following:

“Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception. The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights.” Apr. 5, 2017

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Argumentative Essay on Death Penalty

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Death Penalty Essay: Argumentative Essay Sample

Can the Death Penalty Be Effective?

There are numerous debates about the death penalty, as the opinions on this topic differ in different countries of the world. Most countries have abolished the death penalty, but there are still countries where it is used. The effectiveness of the death penalty can be measured by the rates of crimes that demonstrate that this method of punishment does not reduce the number of criminal acts.

The main goal of the death penalty is to decrease the numbers of abhorrent crimes in the world. However, the statistics show that it does not have as many positive effects as expected. For instance, among the 25 states of the US with the highest crime rates, the death penalty is legal in 20 of them (Tures). If the death penalty was an effective method for the prevention and decrease of crime, the statistics would demonstrate that states with the death penalty would have lower crime rates. Conversely, the statistics show the opposite result, which means that it does not have high effectiveness. Today, capital punishment most likely has other goals, such as revenge. It violates human rights, which is why a growing number of people are against this type of punishment.

There is no evidence that the death penalty is effective for the prevention of criminal acts. However, it is proven that there are numerous disadvantages when it comes to this type of punishment. For instance, there is always a possibility that the person who is punished by death penalty is innocent. The statistics demonstrate that in 2017 there were 137 prison inmates released because of their innocence (Sampathkumar). There is no statistical data about the number of people killed as a result of their criminal acts, but there is the possibility that an innocent person can become the victim of the death penalty. There is information that 4% of people executed by death penalty are innocent, and therefore, it is essential to abolish this type of punishment in all countries of the world in order to prevent the cases of killing innocent people (Goodman). Also, the death penalty is a problem which costs money for the country. For example, the average cost of this case is almost $2.5 million (Goodman). The money spent on the death penalty could have been used for more important goals, such as saving the lives of other people and helping homeless and disabled children. Also, the death penalty has a negative effect on African American culture. For instance, African Americans make up around 13% of the population in the US, but the percentage of death row prisoners who are black is around 50 (Goodman). It demonstrates that there is a higher possibility for a black person to be executed than for a white person. These disadvantages should be the motivation for governments of all countries to make the death penalty illegal.

The death penalty is one of the cruelest types of criminal punishment, which is performed with the help of different methods such as hanging, electrocution, and lethal injections. It would be possible to say that the death penalty is an effective method of prevention of abhorrent crimes if the statistics showed that it decreased the number of criminal acts. However, there is no evidence of the effectiveness of this type of punishment, and yet there are numerous disadvantages to this process.

Works Cited

Goodman, Paul. “The Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty.” Soapboxie , 2018, https://soapboxie.com/government/Death-Penalty-Pros-and-Cons. Sampathkumar, Mythili. “Record Number of Innocent Prison Inmates Released Last Year Over Misconduct by Police, Prosecutors or Government Officials.” The Independent , 2018, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/prison-innocent-police-misconduct-prosecutors-inmates-released-exonerations-2017-a8256521.html. Tures, John. “Does the Death Penalty Reduce the Murder Rate?” Huffpost , 2017, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-a-tures/does-the-death-penalty-re_b_13362760.html.

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Should the Death Penalty Be Legal? Essay

How the death penalty saves lives analysis.

From the statistics used by Mulhausen in the article, “How the Death Penalty Saves Lives”, it seems that the goals of the death penalty were achieved to begin with, but since then it looks as if the death penalty threat is no longer a threat at all. In observing statistics provided to us by the Death Penalty Information Center, since 1990, murder rates have steadily declined; a very good sign for the nation as a whole. What interests me about the statistics is that even when the numbers were just beginning to be taken in 1990, the murder rates in states that do not enforce the death penalty are lower than those in states that do. This observation is very significant in correspondence to the debate regarding the effectiveness and need, or lack thereof, of the death penalty. The numbers back up my claim that the death penalty is not the best method. You cannot make the case that the death penalty itself is destroying crime because the states without the penalty have a declining crime rate, or the case that it destroys crime at a higher or faster rate because the numbers tell a different story. It cannot conclusively or confidently be said that the death penalty does not destroy crime whatsoever, but the facts of the matter do inspire doubt in my mind. Criminals who know they are likely to face death, if caught, are more willing to commit crimes than criminals who know for a fact that the death penalty is not, and cannot be invoked upon them if caught and convicted. This tells me one of two things: the criminals committing these crimes in death penalty states are so good at what they do, they do not fear getting caught, or that these criminals know even if they do get convicted and sentenced to death they are getting the easy way out. These death row convicts do not have to go to prison and suffer

Argumentative Essay: Should The Death Penalty Be Legal?

The death penalty slowly rids the world of killers - or those worthy of being sent to death for their crime - but it takes a great deal of time and money to do so. Due to the unnecessarily expensive capital cases, the cost efficient availability of keeping these inmates in jail for life without parole, and the high price to execute prisoners on Death Row, the death penalty should be illegal.

Against The Death Penalty Essay

     There are many reasons to both support and oppose the death penalty. Many people can feel very strongly about whether or not they approve of this method of punishment. I feel that the death penalty is wrong, and I believe that there is much support to back this up. I believe that the death penalty is wrong because it is not an effective deterrent, racially and economically bias, unreliable, expensive, and morally wrong of society.

Death Penalty Is Better Than Life In Prison

The death penalty has been a subject of controversy for many decades. Many people argue between it being more or less humane than a life sentence. Some say it’s not right to kill someone for killing someone else. Others believe it’s not right to keep someone in jail with no hope of leaving, especially in unhealthy, unsafe conditions. In my opinion, I am all for the death penalty; it’s better to die than live in prison for the rest of your life. The reasons why is that it is cheaper, better for the prisoner, and if someone argues the 8th amendment

Pro Death Penalty Research Paper

Over the course of history, the death penalty is a very heated and debatable topic. The death penalty is often viewed as inhumane and cruel. As a country that prides itself on American values and justice, we need to call attention to the criminals sitting in our jails. This is a monumental decision that no one wants to make, but someone has to. My personal stand point of the death penalty is that the death penalty is in place to help rid our society of criminal's that are incapable of being rehabilitated and released back into society. I support the death penalty because these criminals have caused emotional upheaval and are costing our society more funds required to sit in our jails with the life sentence with no parole rather than exercising

Death Penalty - Justified Essay

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There are many problems facing our criminal justice system today. Some of the more important ones are overcrowded jails, the increasing murder rate, and keeping tax payers content. In light of these problems, I think the death penalty is our best and most reasonable solution because it is a highly effective deterrent to murder. And, tax payers would be pleased to know that their hard-earned tax dollars are not being wasted on supporting incorrigible criminals who are menaces to society. In addition, they would not be forced to fund the development of new penitentiaries in order to make room for the growing number of inmates in our already overcrowded jails. Moreover, the death penalty would

The Death Penalty Debate Essay

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In the United States, the use of the death penalty continues to be a controversial issue. Every election year, politicians, wishing to appeal to the moral sentiments of voters, routinely compete with each other as to who will be toughest in extending the death penalty to those persons who have been convicted of first-degree murder. Both proponents and opponents of capital punishment present compelling arguments to support their claims. Often their arguments are made on different interpretations of what is moral in a just society. In this essay, I intend to present major arguments of those who support the death penalty and those who are opposed to state sanctioned executions application . However, I do intend to fairly and accurately

The Importance Of The Death Penalty In The United States

The united states should abolish the death penalty. It has no place in the United States criminal justice system. It’s a never ending cycle of murder and it’s not justice. A better alternative to the death penalty would be life in prison without parole long term prison sentences punish just as effective as capital punishment the death penalty is extremely flawed the criminal justice system can not adequately administer the death penalty to often innocent people are killed

Should The Death Penalty Be Illegal Essay

Since 1976, there have been 1,417 inmates killed by the death penalty. Out of those 1,417 inmates, 1,242 killed by lethal injection, 158 by electrocution, 11 by gas chamber, 3 by hanging, and 3 by firing squad. The Death Penalty was first enforced in 1608; therefore, Captain George Kendall was the first person to ever be put on death row and actually be prosecuted. In the United States today, only 32 states still have the death penalty. (Death Penalty Information Center) Some people think the death penalty will defer further murders, while others believe the penalty is cruel and is the easy way out for the inmate. Furthermore, the penalty should be illegal because it costs way more money for the inmate to go their than be put in prison for life, also, it is the easy way out for the inmate, they might have serious issues that won’t ever be solved because the courts decided to kill them.

Essay about The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished

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The death penalty, also known as capital punishment is a legal procedure in which a state executes a person for crimes he/she has committed. This punishment has been implemented by many states, and is normally used for atrocious crimes, especially murder. It is also used on crimes against the state such as treason, crimes against humanity, espionage, and violent crimes while other states use it as part of military justice. There are mixed reactions on capital punishment depending on one’s faith, and the state they come from. In my view, I am not in favor of death penalty, as I strongly believe that, death penalty is unacceptable and an inhumane practice for it denies one the right to live. Death penalty does not deter crime, it is an act

The Death Penalty Is Justified

Since the foundation of our nation the Death Penalty has been a way to punish prisoners that have committed heinous crimes, however since the turn of the 20th century the practice of Capital Punishment has been questioned on its usage in America and the world as a whole. The Death Penalty is used in America to punish criminals who have committed murders, or taken the life of an innocent person, and while the death penalty seems like it is doing justice to those who have killed others it is actually being used improperly in most situations, while also hindering our economy and is a means of ending more lives than necessary. The Death Penalty can be a valid source of punishment for criminals in the US however due to the misuse of this power by the government it is a huge detriment to our nation and the people that inhabit it. Because of the fact that Capital Punishment is used unfairly, and ineffectively in our nation it is an obsolete form of punishment and should have no place in the United States justice department.

The death penalty seems to be a very debatable subject. There are arguments and support for both sides of the debate, but which side is right? That is a tough question to ask. After reading the article in the textbook, two other articles, and looking at statistics, I seem to feel that the death penalty may not be the right answer.

Capital Punishment In The United States Essay examples

Capital punishment has been around for many years as a way of executing criminals. Despite what most believe, capital punishment is not functional in the American society. Defenders of the death penalty often claim that the execution of criminals will teach others not to do bad, initially decreasing crime rates. Unfortunately, statistics prove that thought to be wrong. Capital punishment also has great flaws. For example, many innocent people have been put to death because of capital punishment. There also is no consistency. Two of the same crimes can be convicted in two different states and the consequences with be different for both offenders. The death penalty shows to be

Should Death Penalty Be Utilized? Essay

One of the most controversial topics to date is the argument surrounding whether or not the death penalty should be utilized. When majority of the people, think about problems surrounding capital punishment, they automatically jump right to it being legal or illegal. When in reality the problems are so much larger. They're issues involved with Capital Punishment, including racism, sexism and financial status to name a few, when it comes to who is being put to death. Recently, one of the most well known issues has become sexism. Gender inequality has been an issue in the United States and around the world for centuries. Although many people may not ask this question, it has always been wondered why more men are on death row and

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The issue of the death penalty is widely disputed. So disputed that maybe I shouldn’t have picked this topic. But nevertheless, the death penalty is an issue that needs to be addressed. Should the death penalty be abolished from our criminal justice system? Well, that depends on whom you ask. If you ask me… no. I personally don’t see anything wrong with the death penalty because there are a lot of criminals that are just too dangerous to society and death is the only punishment they deserve.

Argumentative Essay About Death Penalty

Argumentative Essay: The Death Penalty In Texas

The death penalty has its pros and cons, to take another life or to not. There are thirty-four states that use the death penalty and sixteen states who don’t. Texas is the the top state that practices the death penalty. I support the use the death penalty, not just for “eye for an eye”, (Death penalty procon). I believe in the use of the death penalty only in severe cases. Serial killers, rapist and child molesters I believe cannot function in society, nor will they ever be productive citizens. Capital punishment is away of keeping our society a little safer. The US spends 4% or 49 billion dollars to feed, cloth and entertain murders and rapists. Also “that death penalty cases are estimated to generate roughly $470,000 in additional costs…

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According to the DPIC (Death penalty information center), the average amount spent on a single death penalty case in Texas is about 2.3million, which is almost three times the amount spent on an inmate put in the highest maximum security for forty years. For crimes that require or call for the death penalty, I support life in prison without parole instead of the death penalty because it is too expensive; cost a lot more than an inmate spending life in prison, does not reduce or deter crime rate,…

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Currently, 18 states have formally declared the death penalty to be illegal. Most states are currently on “hold” or are not aggressively implementing the penalty. Colorado, has shown a growing trend to lack the will for executions. Governor Hickenlooper gave a reprieve in 2013 to our last death row prisoner scheduled to be executed citing the death penalty is a flawed system. Just this year, the new Denver District Attorney, Beth McCann, said her office will not seek the death penalty.…

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Does the death penalty deter crime, especially murder? Is the death penalty just? Should the death penalty be reformed? The death penalty also known as capital punishment continues to be an issue of controversy for many years. It seems that public opinion on the death penalty has changed over the year and is still changing, but there are still other people who believe that the death penalty is a good punishment and will continue to believe. Most of the time in my life, I often hear “An eye for…

Death Penalty Argumentative Essay

The Death Penalty should not be allowed in any country because of its bad influence. The death penalty has the risk of executing an innocent person. Everyone in death row has the right to a second chance to life. Sometime there is no evidence for execution just because of what they did. Other countries use the death penalty to punish their political opponents. The death penalty is a bad thing for inmates family because it's a reminder of what the government did to their loved one. When put on…

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Another opposition is that the death penalty is done painlessly and humanely. In Josh Sunburn’s article he gives insight on an example of when a man was killed with cruel and unusual punishment. This mans name was McGuire (41). McGuire was sentenced to death because he kidnapped, raped, and murdered a pregnant girl (Sanburn 41). The time had come for McGuire’s execution and he was strapped on to the gurney and had two IVs on both of his arms (Sanburn 41). The executioners then released the…

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The death penalty is a controversial and heated topic. While some have strong reasons to be in support of it, others have strong reasons to be against it. The reading by Nathanson, the news article I have selected, and the movie Last Dance either implicitly or explicitly give reasons to be against the death penalty. Berns presents an argument in support of the death penalty. I will analyze these sources and consider the multiple perspectives in a critical manner. I will begin by analyzing…

Argumentative Speech On Death Penalty

capital punishment. And my son. Today, I Barbara Teller will inform you all on how the death penalty is just a desperate attempt in search of “justice” blinded by emotions, to prevent other families to go through what I did. You would have thought that throughout the years we would have evolved from this form of punishment that is revenge caked by law, unfortunately not. My son was put to death for the 1992 murder of 70-year-old John Watson of Covington. But no hard evidence had proven he was…

Argumentative Essay: The Death Penalty In America

Caleb Barwick 11 August 2017 Death Equals Peace Should murderers, rapists, and terrorists be let back in society after serving time in jail just to repeat the crimes they already committed? Well, with the death penalty this will not be a problem. With the death penalty that is not possible for that to happen. The death penalty is necessary for punishment because it can help cut down on terrorism, Americans prefer it as punishment, and it is needed for serious crimes. The death penalty is a…

Argumentative Essay: Death Penalty And Deterrence

murder is Death Penalty. Death Penalty and Deterrence Many studies have been conducted to see if imposing death penalty has reduced murders. There have been no conclusive proof that the death penalty had an inverse effect on the murder rates. Although some people believe that sentencing and executing criminals will cause other criminals to think twice before committing a murder, there have been no conclusive proof of this statement. “According to a survey of the former and present presidents…

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Support the Death Penalty: Argumentative Essay

Is the death penalty right?

The United States currently has a death penalty in more than 30 states. Some states do not carry out actual executions, but other states still carry out actual executions. What is the opinion of those who support and oppose the death penalty? First, my opinion is in favor of the death penalty. The state I live in now is the state where the death penalty was abolished.

The death penalty must, under whatever circumstances, be enforced by the public to clarify the reason for the death of the executor and to carry it out in public proceedings. In the past, there were political deaths for political reasons in relation to power, but most of them were justified by the fact that they were law. Until the eighteenth century, penal law was more common than imprisonment, and in social structures where there were many vertical relationships, the ruling class tended to abuse even the heaviest sins in order to fear the dominant. Of course, in the case of theft or other minor crimes, it is common not to use them in consideration of the people’s antagonism. In the case of double treason, it was easy to be abused for political reasons, and it was widely used because it could be legally used to eliminate political hostile forces, mainly to consolidate the ruling of the ruling class. The death penalty in this premodern society was mainly open, and the method was very cruel as it had the purpose of social control. Either element of openness or cruelty is usually included and in most cases both. In Mongolia, there was a terrible way of keeping them in wooden crates and starving them to death. Since the death penalty in modern society is for the purpose of social segregation of the victims only, most of the death penalty is private and makes it as painless as possible. However, some countries, such as North Korea and China, carry out executions for social control purposes, and although they do not adopt the same brutal executions as before, public executions remain in some countries. In North Korea, such public executions are mainly shot. Occasionally, brutal punishment is also given to dogs or to remove their skin. Iran and Afghanistan implement the death penalty, known as stone or dialysis, in which a prisoner is half-buried and then thrown into a stone for execution. Human rights groups are criticizing this. Unusually, if a prisoner escapes from a burial place, execution stops: the man asks to the waist and the woman to the chest. In the case of Iran, it has recently been replaced by hangings, which are conscious of the eyes of the international community. However, since the elimination of dialysis, there is no concept of human rights, and hangings are executed in the most painful way. On the other hand, as the judicial system changes from criminal punishment to genealogy and the human rights issue is highlighted, the pros and cons are very divided and are still at the center of controversial debate. In countries where the death penalty has been abolished, voices demanding resurrection in countries where the death penalty is maintained.

Most proponents believe that the death penalty should be preserved from a retributive point of view, and even if the proponents that prevention and rehabilitation are the sole purposes of punishment do not abolish the death penalty, there is no proper alternative.

While everyone thinks that their ideas are the result of rational and rational judgments, the controversy would not have lasted so long if the condemnation of the death penalty was indeed something that could be terminated by rational calculations. When we think about the death penalty, most of us think of ‘if there is an absolute value, such as religion or belief’, ‘I imagine hanging my neck on a rope in front of the death penalty, and I feel like I’m dying. I have been raped and chopped up several times, and when I hear an act of a burned offender, I feel as if my family has been upset. ‘ We know well that half-human beings are emotional and can’t think of anything except this. In this age, a society living under the law, it is not right to oppose the death penalty implemented by expressing emotional opinions in the rational rule of law. On the contrary, injecting an emotional opinion, you might think that I am not going to be executed, but rather someone who almost kills my family. Since emotional ways of thinking are contradictory and dangerous, I think the death penalty should be executed in a rational way that completely excludes emotions.

The death penalty is a very sensitive subject. Because it has a direct connection to the judgment of a person’s life. However, I am finally in favor of the death penalty because the death penalty, which is done for the sake of social justice and the law that supports it, is mostly correct.

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Death Penalty Should be Legal Essay

Death penalty is a punishment which allows a person to be killed legally by the state because the person committed a serious crime. I became aware of the existence of the death penalty when as a young child in Japan, I watched a TV show which was related to the death penalty. The show was mainly about the Japanese way of executing criminals, and the debate that was going on among the professionals made me consider whether executing a person by hanging was brutal or not. At that time my father also told me that criminals were executed by gun in China and by electric chair in the U.S. Even though I was too young to understand the meaning completely, the issue had a great impact on me. . After long term consideration I believe that the death penalty should be legal because it helps prevent violent crime and saves lives of innocent people.

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Different countries view the death penalty differently. Here what I would like to talk about is the death penalty in China, Japan and the U.S. These countries are the three largest economies in the world, and they are where I have grown up and live. . Japan and China are based on Eastern culture, and the U.S is based on Western Culture. They have similarities and differences; however, they all have the death penalty. In the U.S. there are two reasons why people support death penalty, and they are retribution and deterrence. The idea of retribution is that a murderer must sacrifice his life because he took someone’s life, and the basic idea is “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.” The idea of deterrence is that death penalty can prevent people from committing murder. Both Japan and China subscribe to these two reasons for the death penalty, but seem to be more supportive of the death penalty than people in the U.S. In China there are two traditional sayings which are “Executing one deters one hundred” and “Killing a chicken to scare the monkey.” but Chinese use death penalty more for the “educational value.” In other words Chinese think that having the death penalty in place will cause people to learn how to behave. According to a survey of the college students in the U.S, Japan and China, Chinese students had the highest support for the death penalty, the U.S. students were the lowest and Japanese students were in the middle (Shanhe et al.). I grew up in Japan and China, and this might contribute to the reason why I strongly agree with death penalty.

The death penalty may be a factor in saving lives. People make their decisions based on their costs or benefits; therefore, a person may stop himself from killing someone if he knows he may be executed as a result (Muhlhausen). It is similar to not stealing because there will be a punishment. If the punishment is execution there will be less likelihood of stealing. The stricter the law, the less and less people commit a crime because everybody fears death, even animals. Most criminals would think twice if they knew their own lives were at stake. Second, many studies have shown that executions can lead to a decrease in murder rates; and on the other hand that abolishing the death penalty increases the incidence of murder. Professor Shepherd analyzed data from 1977 to 1999 and found that the combination of death row sentences and executions deterred many types of murders. She estimated that each death row sentence deters approximately 4.5 murders, and each execution approximately 3 murders. A second issue Shepherd examined was the impact of delaying the execution on deterrence. The numerous appeals and stays of execution that criminals request imply that they prefer lengthy death row waits. Shepherd therefore theorized that shortening the death row wait may increase the deterrence, and estimates that for every 2.75 year reduction in the death row wait for execution one extra murder could be deterred. It means that shorter term of waiting execution can save human’s life (Muhlhausen). According to the U.S. Murder Rate and Executions, the murder rate decreases when the number of executions increases. In other words, criminals start to change their behavior with increasing numbers of executions (Shepherd). This leads to the conclusion that having a death penalty law can help to save lives.

Some people believe that racial discrimination has a part to play in the imposition of death penalty. In 2006 RAND Corporation (Research and Development) tried to determine what factors affect the decision to seek a death penalty case. Three independent teams of researchers were assigned to do the research, and their findings were shared with each other so that they could draw some conclusions. The research was very compelling because three independent research teams, using the same data but different methodologies, reached the same conclusion. RAND found that large race effects with the decision to seek the death penalty are likely to occur when the defendants are white and when the victims are white. However, when the heinousness of the crimes was taken into account, these disparities disappeared in each of the three studies. The research concluded that the characteristics of crimes affect the decision of death penalty rather than the discrimination of race.

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Some people might think that death penalty is inhumane and barbarous. Someone who has lost a loved one to murder may not be pleased to see someone who ruined their lives only getting a few years of imprisonment or, worse, spending a good life in prison. Pervis Tyrone Payne, a 20-year-old retarded man, barely knew his own identity when he murdered a mother and her daughter in front of a 3 year old boy. After raping and killing them, he moved to kill the 4 year old boy. The retarded man pled insanity, got to stay in jail for 22 years, eating three square meals a day, sleeping on a mattress with a blanket in air conditioned comfort and having a roof over his head (Shapiro, 61). Despite the fact that I do not really like the idea of retribution, not only is it hard to forgive someone who commits such a brutal murder, but it adds to the pain of the loss when the person’s life appears to go on easily.

There is further evidence in Sri Lanka that imposing the death penalty has the advantage of “obtaining or restoring justice, deterrence, rehabilitation and protection of the community” (House). For over 30 years there was no death penalty and the numbers of rapes, murders and narcotics dealings increased (Seneviratne). The death penalty is therefore going to be reinstated. Seneviratne believes that it would cause a good effect on Sri Lanka. I would not like to risk having such a situation develop in the country that I live. If imposing the death penalty could prevent such an increase in crimes then I support death penalty.

Lydia M, Child tells a story about a prisoner who committed suicide when he was waiting for his execution. The prisoner could not handle the pressure, and he cut his throat with a knife before the execution. According to Child the move was like a “die game,” and we humans should not do it because it against humans’ morality. It makes me consider how cruel the death penalty is, and that the principle, “an eye for an eye,” is not a good way to punish a murderer. However, if I or someone in my family is murdered, I will have the feeling that I want to kill him. Furthermore, if I see the moment which a murderer kills my lover or parents and they are shouting for help, I will have the urge to kill the murder I would not sit on a chair and consider about humanity. If my own family were involved it might be easier for me to agree with Shepherd’s point that abolishing death penalty is inhumane to the victims.

The death penalty must be imposed carefully. Child also pointed out that death penalty might be a misjudgment and some innocent people might be executed. It is true; therefore, we must judge all defendants carefully. In other words, it could be that the problem is with the trial, not the punishment. Life imprisonment does not take human lives, but it does not mean the judgment can be done irresponsibly. Japanese lawyers often use the “principle of the benefit of the doubt,” and I strongly agree with the idea. Misjudgment should never occur, and I believe this is the best solution to the problem.

Chinese punish a drug dealer more strictly than any other country because the Opium has caused such serious damage in China. England imported Chinese tea, cotton and pottery from China and exported opium as a collateral in 18th century. In 1839 the Opium war occurred, and many Chinese people died because of the drug and war. Chinese learned the fear of drugs, and they treated a drug dealer as a murderer because the dealer indirectly killed others. Since the practice of executing drug dealers was installed, it is almost impossible to obtain drugs in China. This is a good lesson which tells us that a strict rule can protect us from t dangerous incidents. Perhaps if drug dealers were also executed in the U.S., the marijuana trade might be negatively affected.

It is easy to think that a sensible person should not be a murderer and that if you murder a person you should sacrifice yourself. This may not be as straightforward as it sounds. Although it is such an extreme consequence, imposing the death penalty seems to be necessary to act as a deterrent to some people who might be inclined to commit such a serious criminal act.

Works Cited

Child, Lydia M. “Against Capital punishment.” 2009 220-231. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. March 16, 2011.

House, Ron. “The Death Penalty and the Principle of Goodness.” International Journal of Human Rights Issues Dec. 2009, 13.J:680-688. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. March 16, 2011.

Muhlhausen, David B. “The Death Penalty Deters Crime and Saves Lives,” Heritage Foundation Issues August 28, 2007.

Shanhe, Jiang. Eric G Lambert, Jin Wang, Toyoji Saito and Rebecca Pilot. “Death Penalty Views in China, Japan and the U.S.: An Empirical Comparison.” Journal of Criminal Justice Issues Sep.2010, 38.J:862-869. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. March 16, 2011.

Shepherd, Joanna. “Deterrence Versus Brutalization: Capital Punishment’s Differing Impacts among States.” Michigan Law Review Issues Nov 2005, 104.J:203-255. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. March 16, 2011.

Shapiro, Walter. “What say should victims have?” AskJeeves.com. Online. Internet. 29 April 2000.

Seneviratne, Malinda. “Let’s Get Serious About the Death Penalty” Srilanka Gurdian Issues AUG 2009

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Death Penalty Persuasive Essay

This assignment instructed students to write a persuasive essay which argues for a specific viewpoint or a specific action to be taken on a societal issue. I argued for a specific stance to be taken on the issue of the death penalty.

The audience for this essay is the opinion section of the Sunday New York Times. This publication has a wide readership. The largest percentage of readers are between the ages of 35 and 44, and the majority of readers have either a college degree or a graduate degree. This essay argues for a question of value.

The death penalty is an issue that has the United States quite divided. While there are many supporters of it, there is also a large amount of opposition. Currently, there are thirty-three states in which the death penalty is legal and seventeen states that have abolished it (Death Penalty Information Center). I believe the death penalty should be legal throughout the nation . There are many reasons as to why I believe the death penalty should be legalized in all states, including deterrence, retribution, and morality; and because opposing arguments do not hold up, I will refute the ideas that the death penalty is unconstitutional, irrevocable mistakes are made, and that there is a disproportionality of race and income level.

The use of capital punishment greatly deters citizens from committing crimes such as murder. Many people’s greatest fear is death; therefore if they know that death is a possible consequence for their actions, they are less likely to perform such actions. Ernest van den Haag, a professor at Fordham University, wrote about the issue of deterrence:

“…capital punishment is likely to deter more than other punishments because people fear death more than anything else. They fear most death deliberately inflicted by law and scheduled by the courts….Hence, the threat of the death penalty may deter some murderers who otherwise might not have been deterred. And surely the death penalty is the only penalty that could deter prisoners already serving a life sentence and tempted to kill a guard, or offenders about to be arrested and facing a life sentence.” (Death Penalty Curricula for High School)

van den Haag brings forth the argument that capital punishment is the strongest deterrent society has against murder, which has been proven in many studies. “Since society has the highest interest in preventing murder, it should use the strongest punishment available to deter murder…” (Death Penalty Curricula for High School). In a study conducted by Isaac Ehrlich in 1973, it was found that for each execution of a criminal seven potential victim’s lives were saved (Death Penalty Curricula for High School). This was due to other possible murderers being deterred from committing murder after realizing thatother criminals are executed for their crimes. Ehrlich’s argument was also backed up by studies following his that had similar results. Capital punishment also acts as a deterrent for recidivism (the rate at which previously convicted criminals return to committing crimes after being released); if the criminal is executed he has no opportunity to commit crimes again. Some may argue that there is not enough concrete evidence to use deterrence as an argument for the death penalty. The reason some evidence may be inconclusive is that the death penalty often takes a while to be carried out; some prisoners sit on death row for years before being executed. This can influence the effectiveness of deterrence because punishments that are carried out swiftly are better examples to others. Although the death penalty is already effective at deterring possible criminals, it would be even more effective if the legal process were carried out more quickly instead of having inmates on death row for years.

The death penalty also carries out retribution justly. “Deserved punishment protects society morally by restoring this just order, making the wrongdoer pay a price equivalent to the harm he has done.” (Budziszewski). When someone commits a crime it disturbs the order of society; these crimes take away lives, peace, and liberties from society. Giving the death penalty as a punishment simply restores order to society and adequately punishes the criminal for his wrongdoing. Retribution also serves justice for murder victims and their families. Some may see this as revenge, but this retribution is not motivated by malice, rather it is motivated by the need for justice and the principle of lex talionis (“an eye for an eye”) (Green). This lack of malice is proven in the simple definition of retribution: “retribution is a state sponsored, rational response to criminality that is justified given that the state is the victim when a crime occurs” (“Justifications for Capital Punishment). The death penalty puts the scales of justice back in balance after they were unfairly tipped towards the criminal.

The morality of the death penalty has been hotly debated for many years. Those opposed to the death penalty say that it is immoral for the government to take the life of a citizen under any circumstance. This argument is refuted by Immanuel Kant who put forth the idea that, “a society that is not willing to demand a life of somebody who has taken somebody else’s life is simply immoral” (ProCon.org). It is immoral to not properly punish a person who has committed such a horrendous crime. The criminal is also executed humanely; in no way is he subjected to torture or any form of cruelty. All states that use the death penalty use lethal injection; the days of subjecting a prisoner to hanging or the electric chair are long gone in the US. Inmates are first given a large dose of an anesthetic so they do not feel any pain (Bosner); this proves that the process is made as humane as possible so the inmates do not physically suffer. Although the issue of morality is very personal for many people, it is important to see the facts and realize that capital punishment does take morality into account and therefore is carried out in the best way possible.

The eighth amendment to the United States Constitution prevents cruel and unusual punishment. Many opponents of capital punishment say that execution is cruel and unusual punishment and therefore violates the Constitution. As was stated earlier, the recipient of the death penalty is treated humanely and is not tortured in any way, shape, or form. After the anesthetic is administered the person feels no pain; the only part of the process that could be considered painful is when the IV is inserted, but that is done in hospitals on a daily basis and no one is calling it unconstitutional. The Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the death penalty as constitutional in cases they have presided over. In the case of Furman v. Georgia the court stated, “The punishment of death is not cruel, within the meaning of that word as used in the Constitution. It implies there is something more inhuman and barbarous, than the mere extinguishment of life” (Lowe). The Supreme Court has not found capital punishment to be unconstitutional, and therefore this argument for abolition is invalid.

Another argument put forth by death penalty abolitionists is the possibility of executing an innocent person. Many people that argue this overestimate how often this happens, it is an extremely rare occurrence and has not happened since the death penalty was reintroduced in 1976. Steven D. Stewart, the Prosecuting Attorney for Clark County Indiana, very effectively refutes this argument:

“…No system of justice can produce results which are 100% certain all the time. Mistakes will be made in any system which relies upon human testimony for proof. We should be vigilant to uncover and avoid such mistakes. Our system of justice rightfully demands a higher standard for death penalty cases. However, the risk of making a mistake with the extraordinary due process applied in death penalty cases is very small, and there is no credible evidence to show that any innocent persons have been executed at least since the death penalty was reactivated in 1976…The inevitability of a mistake should not serve as grounds to eliminate the death penalty any more than the risk of having a fatal wreck should make automobiles illegal…” (ProCon.org)

Stewart points out that death penalty cases are held to a much higher standard. Due process in these cases takes much longer so that the court can be absolutely sure that the person is guilty before sentencing him to execution. This helps to eliminate any errors that could lead to executing the wrong person. He also points out that although there is a small possibility for mistakes to be made, this does not mean capital punishment should be abolished. If everything that had the potential for harmful mistakes were outlawed, society would be extremely crippled.

It is true that there is disproportionality when it comes to the races and classes that most frequently receive the death penalty. It has been proven that minorities and those with lower income levels are overrepresented on death row. This is not due to discrimination; this is due to the higher rate at which these groups commit crime (ProCon.org). It has been argued that poverty breeds criminality; if this is true then it makes sense that those at a lower income level would more frequently be sentenced to execution than those at higher income levels (ProCon.org). It has also been proven that minorities are disproportionately poor, and therefore they would also be more likely to receive the death penalty. Ernest van den Haag said it best:

“Punishments are imposed on persons, not on…economic groups. Guilt is personal. The only relevant question is: does the person to be executed deserve the punishment? Whether or not others deserved the same punishment, whatever the economic or racial group, have avoided execution is irrelevant.” (ProCon.org)

It does not matter what race or economic status a person is, if he is guilty he must receive the appropriate punishment, which in some cases may be the death penalty.

Capital punishment can be a difficult topic to approach because people tend to have extreme views on it. The death penalty is an asset to society; it deters potential criminals as well as serves retribution to criminals, and is in no way immoral. The arguments against the death penalty often do not hold up when examined more closely. It is important that the nation is united on this issue, rather than having some states use capital punishment while others do not. The death penalty can be an extremely useful tool in sentencing criminals that have committed some of the worst crimes known to society. It is imperative that we begin to pass legislation making capital punishment legal throughout the United States so that justice can be served properly.

Works Cited

Bosner, Kevin. “How Lethal Injection Works.” How Stuff Works . Web. 29 March 2013. <http://people.howstuffworks.com/lethal-injection5.htm>

Budziszewski, J. “Capital Punishment: The Case for Justice.” OrthodoxyToday.org . August 2004. Web. 29 March 2013. <http://www.orthodoxytoday.org/articles4/BudziszewskiPunishment.php>

Death Penalty Curricula for High School. “The Death Penalty Prevents Future Murders: Agree.” Michigan State University Comm Tech Lab & Death Penalty Information Center . Web. 30 March 2013. <http://deathpenaltycurriculum.org/node/6?>

Death Penalty Information Center. “States With and Without the Death Penalty”. Death Penalty Information Center . 2013. Web. 28 March 2013. <http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/states-and-without-death-penalty>

Green, Melissa S. “The Death Penalty: Specific Issues.” Justice Center, University of Alaska Anchorage . 24 March 2005. Web. 28 March 2013. <http://justice.uaa.alaska.edu/death/issues.html>

“Justifications for Capital Punishment.” Justiceblind.com. Web. 30 March 2013. <http://www.justiceblind.com/death/dpsupport.html>

Lowe, Wesley. “Pro Death Penalty Webpage.” Wesleylowe.com . Web. 30 March 2013. <http://www.wesleylowe.com/cp.html>

ProCon.org . ProCon.org. Web. 28 March 2013. <procon.org>

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Moral arguments

Utilitarian arguments, practical arguments, the abolition movement.

Arguments for and against capital punishment

Capital punishment has long engendered considerable debate about both its morality and its effect on criminal behaviour. Contemporary arguments for and against capital punishment fall under three general headings: moral , utilitarian, and practical.

Supporters of the death penalty believe that those who commit murder , because they have taken the life of another, have forfeited their own right to life. Furthermore, they believe, capital punishment is a just form of retribution , expressing and reinforcing the moral indignation not only of the victim’s relatives but of law-abiding citizens in general. By contrast, opponents of capital punishment, following the writings of Cesare Beccaria (in particular On Crimes and Punishments [1764]), argue that, by legitimizing the very behaviour that the law seeks to repress—killing—capital punishment is counterproductive in the moral message it conveys. Moreover, they urge, when it is used for lesser crimes, capital punishment is immoral because it is wholly disproportionate to the harm done. Abolitionists also claim that capital punishment violates the condemned person’s right to life and is fundamentally inhuman and degrading.

Although death was prescribed for crimes in many sacred religious documents and historically was practiced widely with the support of religious hierarchies , today there is no agreement among religious faiths, or among denominations or sects within them, on the morality of capital punishment. Beginning in the last half of the 20th century, increasing numbers of religious leaders—particularly within Judaism and Roman Catholicism—campaigned against it. Capital punishment was abolished by the state of Israel for all offenses except treason and crimes against humanity, and Pope John Paul II condemned it as “cruel and unnecessary.”

Supporters of capital punishment also claim that it has a uniquely potent deterrent effect on potentially violent offenders for whom the threat of imprisonment is not a sufficient restraint. Opponents, however, point to research that generally has demonstrated that the death penalty is not a more effective deterrent than the alternative sanction of life or long-term imprisonment.

There also are disputes about whether capital punishment can be administered in a manner consistent with justice . Those who support capital punishment believe that it is possible to fashion laws and procedures that ensure that only those who are really deserving of death are executed. By contrast, opponents maintain that the historical application of capital punishment shows that any attempt to single out certain kinds of crime as deserving of death will inevitably be arbitrary and discriminatory. They also point to other factors that they think preclude the possibility that capital punishment can be fairly applied, arguing that the poor and ethnic and religious minorities often do not have access to good legal assistance, that racial prejudice motivates predominantly white juries in capital cases to convict black and other nonwhite defendants in disproportionate numbers, and that, because errors are inevitable even in a well-run criminal justice system, some people will be executed for crimes they did not commit. Finally, they argue that, because the appeals process for death sentences is protracted, those condemned to death are often cruelly forced to endure long periods of uncertainty about their fate.

Under the influence of the European Enlightenment , in the latter part of the 18th century there began a movement to limit the scope of capital punishment. Until that time a very wide range of offenses, including even common theft, were punishable by death—though the punishment was not always enforced , in part because juries tended to acquit defendants against the evidence in minor cases. In 1794 the U.S. state of Pennsylvania became the first jurisdiction to restrict the death penalty to first-degree murder, and in 1846 the state of Michigan abolished capital punishment for all murders and other common crimes. In 1863 Venezuela became the first country to abolish capital punishment for all crimes, including serious offenses against the state (e.g., treason and military offenses in time of war). San Marino was the first European country to abolish the death penalty, doing so in 1865; by the early 20th century several other countries, including the Netherlands, Norway , Sweden , Denmark , and Italy , had followed suit (though it was reintroduced in Italy under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini ). By the mid-1960s some 25 countries had abolished the death penalty for murder, though only about half of them also had abolished it for offenses against the state or the military code. For example, Britain abolished capital punishment for murder in 1965, but treason, piracy, and military crimes remained capital offenses until 1998.

During the last third of the 20th century, the number of abolitionist countries increased more than threefold. These countries, together with those that are “de facto” abolitionist—i.e., those in which capital punishment is legal but not exercised—now represent more than half the countries of the world. One reason for the significant increase in the number of abolitionist states was that the abolition movement was successful in making capital punishment an international human rights issue, whereas formerly it had been regarded as solely an internal matter for the countries concerned.

In 1971 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution that, “in order fully to guarantee the right to life, provided for in…the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” called for restricting the number of offenses for which the death penalty could be imposed, with a view toward abolishing it altogether. This resolution was reaffirmed by the General Assembly in 1977. Optional protocols to the European Convention on Human Rights (1983) and to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1989) have been established, under which countries party to the convention and the covenant undertake not to carry out executions. The Council of Europe (1994) and the EU (1998) established as a condition of membership in their organizations the requirement that prospective member countries suspend executions and commit themselves to abolition. This decision had a remarkable impact on the countries of central and eastern Europe , prompting several of them—e.g., the Czech Republic , Hungary , Romania , Slovakia , and Slovenia—to abolish capital punishment.

In the 1990s many African countries—including Angola, Djibouti, Mozambique, and Namibia—abolished capital punishment, though most African countries retained it. In South Africa , which formerly had one of the world’s highest execution rates, capital punishment was outlawed in 1995 by the Constitutional Court, which declared that it was incompatible with the prohibition against cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment and with “a human rights culture.”

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The Death Penalty should not be Legal essay

Imagine you hit your sibling and your mom hits you back to teach that you shouldn’t be hitting anyone. Do you really learn not to be violent from that or instead do you learn how it is okay for moms or dads to hit their children in order to teach them something? This is exactly how the death penalty works. The death penalty has been a form of punishment for decades. There are several methods of execution and those are hanging, firing squad, electrocution and lethal injection. The death penalty, a sentence of ending a life of criminal as a punishment to their crimes, should not be legal due to the fact that it gives quick relief to the prisoner, makes others become murderers and the decision might vary based on judge’s opinions or beliefs.

oxygen (“How Does Death by Hanging Work?”). If things go wrong the maximum amount of time will take for a prisoner to die is 45 minutes, which is a really tiny number comparing to the punishment of a lifetime. As it was stated before, hanging will give quick punishment or relief to the killer. It is also cruel because it might turn into a slow and painful death. Cruel punishments are against our 8th amendment.

Firing squad, a sentence of death by shooting, was another method of execution. Usually, a military personnel would be executor in this type of execution. The prisoner would stand against a wall facing a couple of soldiers with a gun. Only one soldier would have a bullet in the gun, but all of them would receive some sort of command to shoot at the same time. Prisoner’s eyes are usually tied with a piece of clothing to prevent soldiers to doubt while they are doing their duty. Also, soldiers will never know who had a real bullet to blame themselves with the death of the prisoner (“Firing Squad”). As it was mentioned prior, the execution which just made one soldier a murderer, is similar to a prisoner who was also a murderer. This is not a way of punishing people because two wrongs don’t make right. The reason for being punished shouldn’t be the way of how a punishment work. If killing murderers keep goes on, there wouldn’t be anyone left because one person will eventually kill another one to punish them but they will also get punished due to the fact that they killed someone. If we are looking for a justice, this is not a way of finding it. Justice doesn’t contain killing people in it.

Electrocution, ending the life of a prisoner with a great amount of electrical voltage, was also a method of execution. The prisoner would get shaved and tied to an electrical chair. A metal hat looking cap would be placed on their head over a sponge that is wetted by saline. The

amount of saline that was conserved by the sponge is very important because it can slow down the process or give a lot more voltage to the body than intended which would burn the skin. Doctors would check the prisoner’s heartbeat to see if the second or third round of electrocution is needed (“Descriptions of Execution Methods”). This is against 8th amendment which states the prohibition of cruel and injustice punishments (“8th Amendment”). While trying to kill the prisoner, executors would punish a criminal couple of times which is identified as cruel punishment and it is against their amendment. The second or third round of electrocution is also mean that prisoner is suffering a painful death.

Lethal injection, injecting potassium chloride to stop the heart, is the most recently used method of execution. Prisoners would be tied up on a gurney and be injected potassium chloride to stop their heart. Doctors would inject anesthesia first in order to put the prisoner into an unconscious state before stopping their heart. This method might seem less cruel but due to lack interest of doctors in a death penalty, inexperienced people might do the injection and if they inject the potassium chloride into muscle rather than a vein, it might lead to a very painful death. So it is not any less of a cruel than other methods (“Descriptions of Execution Methods”). Killing someone with anesthesia or without anesthesia doesn’t change the fact that you are killing them. Studies are not enough to prove that a person in an unconscious state doesn’t feel anything when they are in a process of dying.

Different beliefs of judges might also lead to wrongful death penalties. If the judge is racist, the decision might not be accurate which is really important because it is life or death situation. In a book called “Equal Justice and The Death Penalty” authors state that “Several of

the concurring justices expressed concern that unrestrained sentencing discretion in capital cases left jurors free to consider racially discriminatory or other suspect factors, such as defendant’s sex or socioeconomic status, when imposing sentence. Indeed, Justice Marshall flatly asserted that, based on the available evidence, racially discriminatory death sentences had occurred” (Baldus, Woodworth, Pulaski Jr. 140). This piece of evidence can show that discrimination can be a problem in the sentencing death penalty and it also has been a problem. Judges gave an order for a prisoner to be killed maybe based on their sex, skin color or religion. This problem might lead to executions of prisoners who are not anywhere close to getting death penalties. This is not a problem that can be fixed because there is no way for that judge or executor to wake the prisoner up after killing them. It is too late to recognize something and put a stop to it. Whereas if judges keep the criminals in a prison for a lifetime, they can set them free if there was some sort of mistake in putting the criminal in prison. There have been people who are being killed mistakenly because of wrong outcomes of trials. This can be prevented if we put a stop to a death penalty.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Death Penalty — Why Capital Punishment should be Legalized

Why Capital Punishment Should Be Legalized

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The Death Penalty Can Ensure ‘Justice Is Being Done’

A top Justice Department official says for many Americans the death penalty is a difficult issue on moral, religious and policy grounds. But as a legal issue, it is straightforward.

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By Jeffrey A. Rosen

Mr. Rosen is the deputy attorney general.

This month, for the first time in 17 years , the United States resumed carrying out death sentences for federal crimes.

On July 14, Daniel Lewis Lee was executed for the 1996 murder of a family, including an 8-year-old girl, by suffocating and drowning them in the Illinois Bayou after robbing them to fund a white-supremacist organization. On July 16, Wesley Purkey was executed for the 1998 murder of a teenage girl, whom he kidnapped, raped, killed, dismembered and discarded in a septic pond. The next day, Dustin Honken was executed for five murders committed in 1993, including the execution-style shooting of two young girls, their mother, and two prospective witnesses against him in a federal prosecution for methamphetamine trafficking.

The death penalty is a difficult issue for many Americans on moral, religious and policy grounds. But as a legal issue, it is straightforward. The United States Constitution expressly contemplates “capital” crimes, and Congress has authorized the death penalty for serious federal offenses since President George Washington signed the Crimes Act of 1790. The American people have repeatedly ratified that decision, including through the Federal Death Penalty Act of 1994 signed by President Bill Clinton, the federal execution of Timothy McVeigh under President George W. Bush and the decision by President Barack Obama’s Justice Department to seek the death penalty against the Boston Marathon bomber and Dylann Roof .

The recent executions reflect that consensus, as the Justice Department has an obligation to carry out the law. The decision to seek the death penalty against Mr. Lee was made by Attorney General Janet Reno (who said she personally opposed the death penalty but was bound by the law) and reaffirmed by Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder.

Mr. Purkey was prosecuted during the George W. Bush administration, and his conviction and sentence were vigorously defended throughout the Obama administration. The judge who imposed the death sentence on Mr. Honken, Mark Bennett, said that while he generally opposed the death penalty, he would not lose any sleep over Mr. Honken’s execution.

In a New York Times Op-Ed essay published on July 17 , two of Mr. Lee’s lawyers criticized the execution of their client, which they contend was carried out in a “shameful rush.” That objection overlooks that Mr. Lee was sentenced more than 20 years ago, and his appeals and other permissible challenges failed, up to and including the day of his execution.

Mr. Lee’s lawyers seem to endorse a system of endless delays that prevent a death sentence from ever becoming real. But his execution date was announced almost a year ago, and was initially set for last December. It was delayed when his lawyers obtained six more months of review by unsuccessfully challenging the procedures used to carry out his lethal injection.

After an appellate court rejected their claim as “without merit,” the Justice Department rescheduled Mr. Lee’s execution, providing an additional four weeks of notice. Yet on the day of the rescheduled execution, after family members of his victims had traveled to Terre Haute, Ind., to witness the execution, a District Court granted Mr. Lee’s request for further review. That court entered a last-minute reprieve that the Supreme Court has said should be an “extreme exception.”

Given the long delay that had already occurred, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to lift the order so the execution could proceed. Mr. Lee’s lawyers opposed that request, insisting that overturning the order would result in their client’s imminent execution. After reviewing the matter, the court granted the government’s request , rebuked the District Court for creating an unjustified last-minute barrier, and directed that the execution could proceed.

In the final minutes before the execution was to occur, Mr. Lee’s lawyers claimed the execution could not proceed because Mr. Lee still had time to seek further review of an appellate court decision six weeks earlier lifting a prior stay of execution. The Justice Department decided to pause the execution for several hours while the appellate court considered and promptly rejected Mr. Lee’s request. That cautious step, taken to ensure undoubted compliance with court orders, is irreconcilable with the suggestion that the department “rushed” the execution or disregarded any law. Mr. Lee’s final hours awaiting his fate were a result of his own lawyers’ choice to assert a non-meritorious objection at the last moment.

Mr. Lee’s lawyers also disregarded the cost to victims’ families of continued delay. Although they note that some members of Mr. Lee’s victims’ families opposed his execution, others did not. Nor did the family members of Wesley Purkey’s victim, Jennifer Long, who were in Terre Haute on Wednesday afternoon. When the District Court again imposed another last-minute stoppage, granting more time for Mr. Purkey’s lawyers to argue (among other things) that he did not understand the reason for his execution, the Justice Department again sought Supreme Court review.

As the hours wore on, Justice Department officials asked Ms. Long’s father if he would prefer to wait for another day. The answer was unequivocal: He would stay as long as it took. As Ms. Long’s stepmother later said, “We just shouldn’t have had to wait this long.” The Supreme Court ultimately authorized the execution just before 3 a.m. In his final statement, Mr. Purkey apologized to “Jennifer’s family” for the pain he had caused, contradicting the claim of his lawyers that he did not understand the reason for his execution.

The third execution, of Dustin Honken, occurred on schedule, but still too late for some of his victims’ families. John Duncan — the father of the victim Lori Duncan and grandfather of her slain daughters, Kandace (age 10) and Amber (age 6) — had urged Mr. Honken’s execution for years. As John Duncan was dying of cancer in 2018, he asked family members to promise they would witness the execution on his behalf. On July 17, they did. “Finally,” they said in a statement, “justice is being done.”

Mr. Lee’s lawyers and other death penalty opponents are entitled to disagree with that sentiment. But if the United States is going to allow capital punishment, a white-supremacist triple murderer would seem the textbook example of a justified case. And if death sentences are going to be imposed, they cannot just be hypothetical; they eventually have to be carried out, or the punishment will lose its deterrent and retributive effects.

Rather than forthrightly opposing the death penalty and attempting to change the law through democratic means, however, Mr. Lee’s lawyers and others have chosen the legal and public-relations equivalent of guerrilla war. They sought to obstruct by any means the administration of sentences that Congress permitted, juries supported and the Supreme Court approved. And when those tactics failed, they accused the Justice Department of “a grave threat to the rule of law,” even though it operated entirely within the law enacted by Congress and approved by the Supreme Court. The American people can decide for themselves which aspects of that process should be considered “shameful.”

Jeffrey A. Rosen is the deputy attorney general.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Argumentative Essay Sample on Death Penalty: Pros and Cons

Just like the debate on the legalization of marijuana, the death penalty has elicited mixed feelings on all citizens globally. There are those who strongly argue that capital offenders must be sentenced to death. In America, for example, crime has become a national disaster. What makes the matter worse is that incarceration has done very little to correct wayward behavior. In the recent past, national authorities have embraced correctional policies in a bid to persuade citizens to stop engaging in criminal activities.

When viewed from this lens, one may contend that the death penalty is the sole sure way of deterring would-be criminals from capital crime. On the other continuum of this dilemma are civil rights bodies and humanitarian groups. Everybody understands that human life is sacred and that it should be treated as such. In addition to this, every national constitution has a universal clause that seeks to protect human life. Considering this simple truth, it emerges that the death penalty is neither advantageous nor prejudicial.

At the same time, the death penalty keeps on dividing people all over the globe. To those supporting this kind of punishment, it is the most suitable way to make people hold responsibility for what they do. The individuals, who don’t think that capital punishment is an effective deterrent for the worst crimes, find it costly and inhumane. It is on this point that opinions differ.

Common dissertations written by students take the form of persuasive essay on the death penalty. As a rule, they include the pros and cons of the issue. When writing such an essay, one must provide a background to the topic. The next step is to take a position, either to support or refute the notion of imposing the death penalty. It is important to provide the reasons for the position that are followed by a counter-argument, with a range of supporting reasons.

To illustrate the basic elements of a college persuasive essay on the pros and cons of the death penalty, check the sample provided below: Serious offenses like murder and rape generally attract the punishment called “the death penalty” or “the capital punishment.” It is perceived that in executing the death penalty, serious offenses are denounced. We cannot deny the fact that crime is highly prevalent in modern societies. This leaves innocent citizens with a profound fear of robbery attacks, beastly rapes, and murders. More often than not, for example, the victims of horrible rapes are children and elderly women. The pain of losing a loved one or a close colleague to violent robbers and murderers is so unbearable that people are looking for justice, hoping that the murderers would pay the highest price for what they have done – their own lives.

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A lot of opponents of capital punishment insist on capital punishment being pointless since it has zero preventive effect on crime, wrongly providing authorities with the right to take people’s lives. What is more, those who are against the capital punishments say that it actually maintains social injustices by targeting individuals who can’t afford a proficient attorney or belong to different races.

Let us take a closer look at the pros and cons of the death penalty in order to see who is actually wrong and who is right. Going into detail of the pros of capital punishment, we should note that it is very worrying that the people who commit these heinous crimes have been in and out jail several times. Thus, it helps very little if the court system keeps sentencing a serial murderer to imprisonment. Imposing a death penalty will clean all killers and rapists from society. It might sound irreligious to sentence an offender to death. However, the reality is that disobedience to laws is denounced in all religions.

At the same time, capital punishment deters lawbreakers from committing serious crimes. What is it that every human being is afraid of? Losing their life! For that reason, knowing that you’re going to be sentenced to death for what you do might deter criminals from carrying out the most serious crimes.

Let’s face it – many victims or their families tend to find peace in passing sentence. The death penalty appeases them and gives them a sense of some sort of closure. This, in turn, helps people get over what has happened and get back to normal life.

This might sound a little weird, but the death penalty is the most humane and quick way to punish criminals for the worst crimes. The reality is that all the methods of execution are painless at the moment, which means all the arguments about the cruelty of the capital punishments do not correspond to reality.

Capital punishment adds to world violence. The reality is that revenge is just another form of violence or crime that is justified by the law. In other words, two wrongs are not going to make a right, no matter how hard you try to justify the death penalty. The argument for capital punishment is that killing someone is wrong. Thus, you have to kill someone for killing someone else. This, in turn, makes zero sense.

In his “Essay on Criticism,” Alexander Pope says, “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” The justice system is no exception – everyone happens to be wrong more often than not. And if this or that person is wrongly imprisoned, they can get free. However, in the case of the wrongful death penalty, nothing can be changed.

And as for the money, capital punishment is expensive. When we take into consideration all the legal and practical costs, it can be concluded that capital punishment is not cost-effective at all, which means imprisoning for life has more sense.

When we consider all the characteristics of the execution and a life spent in prison, it is clear that the latter is a worse punishment even for the most horrible crimes. An individual facing a life sentence is about to spend many years in an enclosed space. They will endure their punishment until the end of their days in the company of the most hardened criminals. Every single day will be the same – nothing else, but the constant reflection on his or her crimes.

When it comes to religion, solid religious arguments that do not support capital punishment exist. In particular, people believe that life is a gift from God, which means no one can take it away. To conclude, here’s what we all have to think about – if a person does not have respect for life, then why should others respect his/her life? Is it okay to see our young girls lose their dignity to insufferable criminals, who have no justification for the acts they commit? Without a doubt, we all have our points of view on the issues related to capital punishment. However, there’s a simple truth – if someone decides to commit a serious crime, this person has to be ready to face the consequences. In other words – let everyone take responsibility for their actions and deal with what comes after.

The Death Penalty, Argumentative Essay Sample

October 21, 2016 Gloria Kopp Writing Samples 12

The majority of Americans have a clear and strong stance when it comes to the death penalty, no matter which side of the debate they sit on. Supporters of this punishment argue that it serves as a deterrent to crime, and that justice is being served. My personal stance on the death penalty is that it is an outdated and ineffective punishment, serving no true benefit to society and causing more harm than good to society as a whole.

When looking at the argument that the death penalty serves as a deterrent to others thinking about committing the same crime, we need only look to other countries around the world as examples to disprove this. Throughout the world, we are able to see that, in those countries where there is no death penalty, murders and other violent crimes happen at a much lower rate than in the United States. It does seem counter-intuitive, but the evidence is clear.

We can also clearly see that, in the United States, many people still commit these horrendous crimes, knowing full well that capital punishment exists. In the heat of the moment, when a person is not thinking clearly and logically, the existence of the death penalty and the possibility that they could be facing this punishment does not typically cross their mind, and cause them to alter their behavior. The consequences of their actions are not at the forefront of their minds while they’re in the midst of carrying out those actions. We can see this in the consistent, and increasing, number of violent crimes being committed year after year in this country.

There have also been widely publicised cases of wrongly convicted individuals, who were either put to death or were awaiting their punishment, that were revealed to be innocent. In the cases where the death penalty had already been carried out, it was too late for those innocent people. And, in the cases where innocence was discovered in time, we can only be thankful that it wasn’t too late. There are definitely cases of people being wrongly accused and convicted, and for each case that’s brought to light, we must keep in mind that there are likely more that we’ve never – and will never – hear about. Having even one innocent person put to death wrongly is a crime unto itself.

We must also look at the mental competence of the individuals being convicted and sentenced to this punishment. If a person is not mentally capable of processing and understanding the actions they have committed, it is ethically wrong to execute them for this.

When looking at the ethics of capital punishment, it’s also essential to assess whether or not it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. There have been advancements in the technologies being used to enact the death penalty that are designed to lessen the pain and suffering a person endures. But, in reality, the only individuals who can attest to their effectiveness are those being executed. We cannot say for certain whether or not someone suffered unduly while they were being executed, whether everything worked as it should to ensure a quick and painless death.

And, yes, there are those who will argue that a death marked by pain and suffering is a part of the justice being served. But, as we try to hold ourselves as a nation to a higher standard than our worst criminals, we should at the very least allow our justice system to work as it should, according to the Supreme Court. And, nowhere in history has the Supreme Court ever advocated for the use of cruel and unusual punishment. We would like to think that we have more compassion and humanity than those who have committed such horrendous crimes, and as such, we should demonstrate this by showing them the humanity they denied someone else, not by sinking to their level.

The argument for or against the death penalty has been passionately argued throughout our nation’s history, with each side having their own strong viewpoints. When we look at the evidence from around the world on the effectiveness of capital punishment as a deterrent, as well as the ethical dilemma of potentially executing innocent or mentally incompetent individuals, it is easy to see that the practice of capital punishment offers no benefits to our society.

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Argumentative Essay On Death Penalty

Death penalty: overpopulation in the united states.

The death penalty is a good thing at times it gets closure to the victim's families who've suffered a loss while Justice is being served. The United States isn't the only place that that still has the death penalty for certain crimes, other nations do as well. It's very beneficial when it comes to contributing to our issue of overpopulation in the prisons. If there's a lot of overpopulation it can be very difficult when prisoner's get loose to keep them in control as well as the costs of keeping them locked up presents an issue when coming out of tax. The death penalty becomes a tool of fighting with violence against murders who've not yet committed the crime, due to the fear of death or getting caught. So, in turn, the death penalty is helpful in saving lives. Even when there is an act of

Diagramming Arguments For Homework

(1) There is no statistical evidence that shows that the death penalty deters would-be murderers. (2) There is good reason to think that the death penalty does not deter. Also, (3) the death penalty is cruel and unusual and (4) it costs the state millions – if not billions – of dollars. Therefore, (5) the death penalty should be abolished.

Why The Death Penalty Should Stay In States

The death penalty should stay because we need it. If someone commits a crime they should take full responsibility for their actions. We do not need to keep them in jail. If they stayed in jail then they are still alive and someone innocent had to die because of their actions. Humans lifes is in danger, if we do not do something about it. We have the death penalty for a reason. There should not be nothing wrong with the death penalty. The jail houses are overcrowded and it is

Deterrence Theory Essay

Deterrence theory states that people follow the law because they are scare of getting caught or being punished. In this article, “The Death Penalty Deters Crime,” David Muhlhausen, expert on criminal justice programs in the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis and a research fellow in empirical policy analysis, confirms the deterrence theory. By means of statistical data and research dating, Muhlhausen contends that the death penalty does deters murder crime which ultimately saves lives. He also believes that executions and murder rates are somehow connected to each other. Even though, some adequate emotional appeals appeared, Muhlhausen’s article failed to prove, logically, the deterrence theory.

Summary Of A Death In Texas By Steve Earle

To begin, the death penalty is unnecessary since it is ineffective at deterring rates of murder. In fact, 88% of the country's top criminologists do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicide, according to the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. In opposition, supporters may argue that it may indeed help to deter murder rates as they have

Analysis Of Capital Punishment In Truman Capote's In Cold Blood

How would you feel if you were on death row awaiting the inevitable? Would you feel as though you are deserving of this punishment or deserve the chance to live? As of January 1st, 2018 over 2,700 inmates are on death row. This means that they will be put to death at some point in the future. Many inmates are often on death row for more than a year which gives them time to reflect on what they have done and the pain it caused. Being on death row often prolongs the pain for the inmate. They spend their time in prison fearing the inevitable which for them is death. Today, we live in a society that is very divided on this issue. There are many in support of the death penalty, suggesting that it acts as a positive deterrent against future crime. There are also many

FBI Uniform Crime Report

In fact, a study done by the National Research Council, titled Deterrence and the Death Penalty, even went as far as stating that the claims supporting the death penalty are “fundamentally flawed” (2012). What is more important though, is to see if this can be observed in the real world today; and by no surprise, it can. In 2013, the FBI Uniform Crime Report showed that the Southern states had the highest murder rates, and the highest percentage of executions at 80%, whereas the Northeast has the lowest murder rates and only 1% of the year’s executions. So why does the South still have the highest murder rates even though they perform the most executions? One must assume that such extreme practices like the death penalty has to be unnecessary. If the cold-blooded killing of thousands does not lower premeditated murder, there is really no point (because let 's face it, the saying “eye for an eye” is childish and socially unacceptable). This same conclusion was agreed upon in a recent poll by almost 90% of the world’s criminological societies (Facts About the Death Penalty). However in all honesty, the argument against the death penalty doesn’t just stop at its redundancy, but also its

The Death Penalty In Texas

Some see the death penalty as the only means to extract justice for victims. Others see it as a morally reprehensible act where a second wrong is committed in order to make something right. With recent issues surrounding the death penalty in which execution hasn 't gone as planned sparking a nationwide debate, this is my outlook on why I 'm for the death penalty not only being abolished in the state of Texas but in addition to the entirety of the US..

How To Abolish Death Penalty In California

Very few criminals really get deterred by the death penalty. A Bristol prison chaplain says that, “...out of 167 condemned criminals whom he had interviewed, only three had not witnessed an execution” (Weil 2013). The criminals sentenced to death row were not deterred by the death penalty, even though almost all of them have witnessed a hanging. Capital punishment is not an effective way to deter criminals, since the prospect of spending one’s entire life behind bars sounds even worse. The criminals who think they can get away with their crimes, also think that they will not be executed if convicted. The way to stop people from committing horrific acts is to not say how bad the punishment will be, but to have a more effective police force laying down the

Argumentative Essay: Should Nebraska Have The Death Penalty

There are a lot of things going on in the world about abortion, whether it should be allowed or not, but how about the death penalty. One of the things that Nebraskans need to beware of is the decision that needs to be made; Should Nebraska have the Death Penalty. People have every different opinions or beliefs on this situation. My opinion is my belief. I am a proud Catholic and I am not ashamed to admit that my opinion has to do with what the Catholic Church teaches. I believe that there should not be a death penalty, unless the person cannot be contained and is a danger to citizens. I can come up with a lot reasons like negative consequences for our communities and our state, the input of the views of the catholic church, and the catholic churches simple facts to prove it wrong. People shall not put those to death, but let their life end naturally.

Prison Overcrowding In Prison

There are 2.3 million people incarcerated in prison or jail in the United States of America. The United States of America has the highest incarceration of any country in the world. One out of five people in prison is in there for drug crimes (Rabuy, 2017). Prison overcrowding is inhumane and unnecessary to protect society from offenders. Prison overcrowding is due to mandatory minimum sentences, three strikes laws, the war on drugs, and lack of rehabilitation programs. In addition, there is little evidence that the death penalty reduces crime, and it costs more than to keep a prisoner for life.

Persuasive Speech: Why The Death Penalty Must End

In conclusion, I would like to add that we are all humans and we should be treated that way. Death penalty is like the ‘’tooth for a tooth – eye for an eye’’ theory. Instead of acting inhuman to our fellow beings we should find a better way to solve the mind of criminals. Making the problem vanish is not a good idea. We should do psychological researching instead! I, myself have a lot of faith in humanity. Even though some people may be sadistic by nature, they do have a heart. In that heart there may be a few strays of light left. We should save criminals instead of vanishing them from the face of the

Persuasive Essay On Death Penalty

According to the 2010 Gallup Poll, 64% of the United State of America are supporting the death penalty, I as an American am part of that 36% that is against it. I do not believe that we as human being should determine whether another person should live or die. A second reason that I am against the death penalty is for the reason that the accused person could be innocent and normally the accused person only has one court presentation and is only judged by the judge not a jury of their peer, and is sent to death row where they pay for a crime that they haven’t done. My final reason that i do not believe that the death penalty should count as a punishment for the American people is because, a person that has done a massive massacre shouldn’t just be able to leave the world just like that without paying and suffering for what they have done, Or should the death punishment continue as it is for it has a great benefit to us as citizens of the United States. Will you stand with us or against us?

Argumentative Essay: Race And The Death Penalty

Although the death penalty may bring some closure to families of the victims and even the victims themselves it still should be abolished because the negatives outweigh the positives. People could be murdered by the state even if they are innocent. They are taking away any chance these people have at a normal life even though it's a life that they deserve and did nothing to have it taken away.

Essay On Harsh Punishment

In the case of the death penalty, it has the added bonus in guaranteeing that the person would not offend again. Supporters of harsh punishments argue that the would-be criminal would consider the costs versus the benefits of committing a crime. If the costs outweigh the benefits, then it is assumed that he would stop what he is doing, effectively ‘deterred’. Furthermore, the usage of harsh punishments to effectively deter crime is ethically justified as it prevents more people from falling victim to crime. However it is extremely difficult to judge a punishment’s effectiveness based on its deterrence effect, consequently we must consider other variables that would entail a person to commit a crime. Motivation is a key factor; many criminals are motivated by desires, rage and desperation. It is very possible that criminals are not thinking rationally when committing a crime. In other words, the severity of a punishment is largely irrelevant when criminals are not thinking clearly at the time, the very fact that they committed the crime in the first place is already evident that they never considered the consequences. Therefore, it is untrue that harsher punishments are more

More about Argumentative Essay On Death Penalty

Death penalty argumentative essay conclusion. Death Penalty should be Legalized Argumentative Essay 2022-11-03

The death penalty, also known as capital punishment, is the practice of executing individuals as punishment for certain crimes. It has been used for centuries as a means of retribution and deterrence, but its efficacy and morality have long been debated.

One argument in favor of the death penalty is that it serves as a deterrent to crime. Proponents of this view argue that the threat of execution can prevent individuals from committing heinous crimes, as they know the consequences will be severe. Some studies have found that states with the death penalty have lower murder rates than those without it, suggesting that it may be effective in deterring crime.

However, other research has found no evidence to support the deterrent effect of the death penalty. In fact, some studies have found that states with the death penalty actually have higher murder rates than those without it. This suggests that the death penalty may not be an effective deterrent and may even have the opposite effect.

Another argument in favor of the death penalty is that it serves as a form of retribution for the victims and their families. For those who have lost a loved one to a heinous crime, the thought of the perpetrator being held accountable and punished can bring a sense of justice and closure.

However, opponents of the death penalty argue that it is not a fair or moral form of punishment. One concern is that it is often applied disproportionately to certain groups, such as people of color and those with lower socio-economic status. There have also been numerous cases of wrongful convictions, in which innocent individuals have been sentenced to death and later exonerated. This raises serious concerns about the fairness and reliability of the death penalty.

Furthermore, some argue that the death penalty is not a humane form of punishment. Many methods of execution, such as lethal injection and electrocution, can be painful and inhumane. There is also the risk of executing individuals who are later found to be innocent, which is irreversible and can result in a grave injustice.

In conclusion, the death penalty is a controversial and divisive issue that raises important moral and practical questions. While it may serve as a form of retribution and deterrence for some, others argue that it is not a fair or humane form of punishment. Ultimately, the decision to use the death penalty should be based on a careful consideration of the available evidence and a weighing of the potential costs and benefits.

Death Penalty should be Legalized Argumentative Essay

death penalty argumentative essay conclusion

Advocates for the death penalty and abolitionist against the death penalty have debated this issue since the inception of capital punishment. A man named George Kendall was executed for treason. Statistics show that there is over an eight-year wait before an execution can take place. Construction, sports, driving, and air travel all offer the possibility of accidental death even though the highest levels of precautions are taken. This leads us to the question: Should the government have the power to sentence convicted criminals to death? June 18, 2010 in Utah for the first time in a long time was used shot: was shot Ronnie Lee Gardner, who chose their own method of execution. Sometimes the best solution occurs to be the worst of all, capital punishment.

Another equally strong argument which concerns medicine is why doctors are not allowed even in the case of the deadly disease to stop tortures of a dying person? If we continue to punish the wrongdoers with the same violent actions, we are setting an example that violence is the answer to our problems and that it is morally right. Holmes then enrolled at the University of Colorado in June of 2011, taking graduate courses in neuroscience at the university's campus in Denver. Times have changed Premium Capital punishment Crime Murder Death Penalty 5. The racial and economic bias is not a valid argument against the death penalty. Whatever henious crime one does,we are not uncivilised and barbaric to take the lives of others. Initially there were cruel laws, particularly draconian "Blue Laws of Connecticut". Is the purpose to remove from society someone who is incapable of rehabilitation? In my opinion, this is the best suiting theory that can be applied in this case.

Argumentative Essay On Death Penalty

In conclusion, there is enough evidence that there are minimal benefits of death penalty and it needs to abolish all over the world. There are only two reasons that capital punishment is used; homicide, and rape of a small child. A few of them even want to abolish death penalty. The death penalty as retribution no longer makes sense in our current society. Why have so many countries banned the death penalty? Opponents of capital punishment have basically four arguments.

Death Penalty Argumentative Essay

The death penalty is based around the idea that it is acceptable to execute someone for killing. This is the least credible argument against capital punishment. Therefore, the criminal law should include punishment strict enough, which is death, for the most dangerous criminals who have committed inhumane crimes. In conclusion, the death penalty should be abolished for it is an immoral and hypocritical punishment that prisoners should not receive. There are DNA testing that help the authorities determine that the person is actually guilty or not. But what most people do not know is why or how the death penalty was originated, or why they ended most of the death penalty.

Death Penalty Essay: Argumentative Essay Sample

The argument of whether families of the victim Argumentative Essay On Death Penalty Argument Essay: Death Penalty The American Justice System has been using the death penalty, also known as capital punishment, as a way to serve a prisoner's sentence usually due to the crime of murder. We need to teach our children and youth to be justified and maintain human nature. They feel that by executing criminals, it serves as a lesson for the people who might think of committing a crime. Just think about the first impressions when we look at a person, or the task of the courts all around the world. Europeans gave the death penalty for various crimes. Thus, I suppose, the United States of America should not cancel the using of the death penalty for the rudest crimes. Therefore, the death penalty essay usually relates to argumentative topics or case study writing since the purpose is to participate in debates.

Argumentative Essay: Conclusion Of The Death Penalty

First, the death of an offender will not bring the victim back to life, as well as it will not easy the pain of the loss. The idea of your life for a life; the vast majority of our population is in favor of the death penalty. To draw a conclusion about what exactly will be the best argument is the most difficult goal for the state and society, which in the end will be implemented anyway. . If so, would you want them to be on death row? One of those reasons can be identified in the Belgian magazine article.

Death Penalty

All the forces of society should be directed at the prevention of crime, the creation of healthy, normal conditions in all spheres of our reality. People need to respect life, even if it is of a murderer. Nevertheless, there is a point, a limit, from where, there is no coming back. Only a thought about killing an innocent person should bring a person to the decision of being against death penalty. For many years, scientists express their opinions about an issue such as death penalty. We believe that this has occurred in part because of the strong signal that the death penalty sent to violent criminals and murderer.

Fascinating Argumentative Essay Sample on Death Penalty

Nowadays the humanization of the penal system is taking its place, however, there are those who think that the most cruel crimes still deserve the death penalty. After all, as a result of punishment a person can improve, radically change his or her lives, and to over think everything. Wild West at the same time acted sheriffs penalty at its discretion sometimes his own. Instead of offering deterrence, it increases the likelihood of more murder. There have always been discussions about this topic, however, most of the states prefer to use death penalty.

Good Death Penalty Argumentative Essays

However, I do agree with Immanuel Kant and his Ethical theory when he says, "an eye for an eye. Pennsylvania was the first state to adopt this trend. That is why more and more people start to believe in this form of sentence. Some studies had shown that the death penalty actually saves between three and 18 lives when each convicted killer is executed. Order an essay Death Penalty Essay Writing Assistance from Pro Writers As you can see, the author of the argumentative essay about the death penalty above considers capital punishment to be an irrational and useless tool of the justice system.

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COMMENTS

Top 10 Pro & Con Arguments
Opponents of the death penalty being legal argue that the punishment is cruel and unusual, and, thus, unconstitutional, that innocent people are put to death for crimes they did not commit, and that the penalty is disproportionately applied to people of color. Read More about This Debate: Should the Death Penalty Be Legal? Sources:
Death Penalty should be Legalized Argumentative Essay
Death penalty is an ultimate warning for criminals. They can see what the consequences of their actions could be. Unfortunately, according to the N. C. Department of Justice (North Carolina), death penalty does not influence murderers to think twice before killing, on the contrary.
Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished?
In the July Opinion essay "The Death Penalty Can Ensure 'Justice Is Being Done,'" Jeffrey A. Rosen, then acting deputy attorney general, makes a legal case for capital punishment:
Should the Death Penalty Be Legal?
PRO (yes) Pro. Jeffrey A. Rosen, JD, Former Deputy Attorney General in the Trump Administration, in a July 27, 2020 article, "The Death Penalty Can Ensure 'Justice Is Being Done,'" available at nytimes.com, stated: "The death penalty is a difficult issue for many Americans on moral, religious and policy grounds.
Argumentative Essay on Death Penalty
Should the death penalty be legal? Since the death penalty is no longer an affected punishment, I purposed that we abolish the practice in the United States. Throughout America's history, many have tried to abolish the death penalty.
Death Penalty Essay Examples (Pro and Against)
Death Penalty also known as capital punishment is a form of punishment in which a criminal is put to death because of his or her action in murder. The denial of life that is capital punishment is conflicting to what the United States was founded on. The death penalty is currently legal in 30 states and illegal or […] Topics: Death, Death Penalty
Death Penalty Essay: Argumentative Essay Sample
The main goal of the death penalty is to decrease the numbers of abhorrent crimes in the world. However, the statistics show that it does not have as many positive effects as expected. For instance, among the 25 states of the US with the highest crime rates, the death penalty is legal in 20 of them (Tures).
Argumentative Essay: Should The Death Penalty Be Legal?
Due to the unnecessarily expensive capital cases, the cost efficient availability of keeping these inmates in jail for life without parole, and the high price to execute prisoners on Death Row, the death penalty should be illegal. Capital cases are much more expensive and time consuming than other criminal cases.
Should the Death Penalty Be Legal? Essay
Essay about The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished The death penalty, also known as capital punishment is a legal procedure in which a state executes a person for crimes he/she has committed. This punishment has been implemented by many states, and is normally used for atrocious crimes, especially murder.
Argumentative Essay About Death Penalty
The Death Penalty should not be allowed in any country because of its bad influence. The death penalty has the risk of executing an innocent person. Everyone in death row has the right to a second chance to life. Sometime there is no evidence for execution just because of what they did.
Argumentative Essay.docx
Claim: Death penalty should not be implemented because the Philippines' judicial system is flawed. Nobody has control over death. The death penalty, often known as capital punishment, was imposed on a person who was considered unfit to live by the state as a punishment for his severe actions or heinous crimes.
Support the Death Penalty: Argumentative Essay
First, my opinion is in favor of the death penalty. The state I live in now is the state where the death penalty was abolished. The death penalty must, under whatever circumstances, be enforced by the public to clarify the reason for the death of the executor and to carry it out in public proceedings. In the past, there were political deaths ...
Death Penalty Should be Legal Essay
Death Penalty Should be Legal Essay. Death penalty is a punishment which allows a person to be killed legally by the state because the person committed a serious crime. I became aware of the existence of the death penalty when as a young child in Japan, I watched a TV show which was related to the death penalty.
Death Penalty Persuasive Essay
There are many reasons as to why I believe the death penalty should be legalized in all states, including deterrence, retribution, and morality; and because opposing arguments do not hold up, I will refute the ideas that the death penalty is unconstitutional, irrevocable mistakes are made, and that there is a disproportionality of race and income …
Arguments for and against capital punishment
Contemporary arguments for and against capital punishment fall under three general headings: moral, utilitarian, and practical. Moral arguments Supporters of the death penalty believe that those who commit murder, because they have taken the life of another, have forfeited their own right to life.
The Death Penalty should not be Legal
The death penalty, a sentence of ending a life of criminal as a punishment to their crimes, should not be legal due to the fact that it gives quick relief to the prisoner, makes others become murderers and the decision might vary based on judge's opinions or beliefs.
The Death Penalty: Pros and Cons: [Essay Example], 1208 words
Although the death penalty is already effective at deterring possible criminals, it would be even more effective if the legal process were carried out more quickly instead of having inmates on death row for years.The death penalty also carries out retribution justly.
Why Capital Punishment Should Be Legalized
Imposing a law such as the death penalty can benefit the government by not spending more money per inmate on food, health care, and other resources needed for survival in prison for inmates who are serving life. The death penalty can also be exercised to help decrease the crime rates committed in each state or country.
Essay Why The Death Penalty Should Be Abolished
Argumentative Essay: Texas Death Penalty In The United States 932 Words | 4 Pages. To win any kind of election/re-election candidates must work to please voters. Here in Texas where a majority of people have a strong pro-death penalty stance, judges must also have a strong stance regarding the death penalty if they would like to remain in office.
The Death Penalty Can Ensure 'Justice Is Being Done'
The Death Penalty Can Ensure 'Justice Is Being Done' A top Justice Department official says for many Americans the death penalty is a difficult issue on moral, religious and policy grounds....
Argumentative Essay Sample on Death Penalty: Pros and Cons
To illustrate the basic elements of a college persuasive essay on the pros and cons of the death penalty, check the sample provided below: Serious offenses like murder and rape generally attract the punishment called "the death penalty" or "the capital punishment.". It is perceived that in executing the death penalty, serious offenses ...
Free Argumentative Essay Sample
The Death Penalty, Argumentative Essay Sample. The majority of Americans have a clear and strong stance when it comes to the death penalty, no matter which side of the debate they sit on. Supporters of this punishment argue that it serves as a deterrent to crime, and that justice is being served. My personal stance on the death penalty is that ...
Argumentative Essay On Death Penalty
Argumentative Essay On Death Penalty. 1086 Words5 Pages. The Death Penalty. The world can be a dark cruel place to live in , it seems like everyday a horrendous crime is committed like murder, kidnaping and rape. These crimes are enough proof that there is enough evil in the world. It is necessary that society has the death penalty to prevent ...
Death penalty argumentative essay conclusion. Death Penalty should be
Death Penalty should be Legalized Argumentative Essay. Advocates for the death penalty and abolitionist against the death penalty have debated this issue since the inception of capital punishment. A man named George Kendall was executed for treason. Statistics show that there is over an eight-year wait before an execution can take place.