Capital Punishment Capital Punishment Essay Essay on Capital Punishment Capital Punishment Debate Essay

1. Capital Punishment
Capital Punishment
Murder, a common occurrence in American society, is thought of as a horrible, reprehensible
atrocity. Why then, is it thought of differently when the state government arranges and executes a
human being, the very definition of premeditated murder? Capital punishment has been reviewed
and studied for many years, exposing several inequities and weaknesses, showing the need for the
death penalty to be abolished.
Upon examination, one finds capital punishment to be economically weak and deficient. A common
misconception of the death penalty is that the cost to execute a convicted criminal is cheaper than to
place a convict in prison for life without parole. Due to the United States judicial system, the process
of appeals,...show more content...
Whatever they need, they can get (Cummings).
In addition to being racially prejudiced, capital punishment places innocent lives at risk. Recently
in Chicago, a black man was released from death row after nearly sixteen years in prison. This
man, Anthony Porter, came within two days of receiving a lethal injection, until the courts finally
agreed hearing on his mental capacity. Porter was very lucky to receive an excellent attorney
who managed to prove that Porter was innocent and led the police to a prisoner in Milwaukee
who confessed (Kile). This shows the importance of the appeal process found in the courts, which
serve to protect the lives of innocent citizens of the United States of America. A writer for The
Christian Century writes, "Porter's case brings to light the very real danger that overzealous
prosecutors, sloppy legal work and poor legal defense teams will send people to their deaths for
crimes they didn't commit," (Kile). If Porter had an equipped defense attorney from the start,
he would never have been to prison and nearly killed. Ryan Cummings of The Economist observed
that more crimes are punishable by execution, more states have adopted the death penalty and the
appeals process has been shortened. The overall expansion of capital punishment endangers innocent
lives. Cumulatively, there is now less time and fewer tools to save innocent men and women
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2. Capital Punishment Essay
Capital Punishment
Many positions can be defended when debating the issue of capital punishment. In Jonathan Glover's
essay "Executions," he maintains that there are three views that a person may have in
regard to capital punishment: the retributivist, the absolutist, and the utilitarian. Although Glover
recognizes that both statistical and intuitive evidence cannot validate the benefits of capital
punishment, he can be considered a utilitarian because he believes that social usefulness is the only
way to justify it. Martin Perlmutter on the other hand, maintains the retributivist view of capital
punishment, which states that a murderer deserves to be punished because of a conscious decision to
...show more content...
It is difficult to determine whether alterations in the murder rates and the presence of capital
punishment have a causal relationship. The only other method of justifying the deterring ability of
the death penalty is through an intuitive argument. Hypothetically, if a person knows that murdering
another will result in their own execution, he or she will not commit the crime. The intuitive
argument fails however, because murderers do not face certain death when they go to trial. The
long–term effects of murder seem so distant that capital punishment may fail to act as a deterrent at
all. Such is the case with cigarette smokers. Any educated person knows that cigarette smoking can
cause lung cancer and many other fatal health problems. The negative results of this activity are so
distant though, that people believe that "it will not happen to me." Another failure in the
intuitive argument defending the deterring ability of the death penalty is whether it actually serves
as a greater deterrence than life imprisonment. Bodily mutilation may deter many people from
committing a multitude of crimes, however this sort of punishment is inconceivable in American
society. Glover does not believe that the argument of deterrence can be effectively
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3. Essay on Capital Punishment
Capital Punishment
The definition of capital punishment is the legal punishment of death for violating criminal law. The
person who gets capital punishment is the ones who committed serious crimes. Methods of capital
punishment throughout the world are by stoning, beheading, hanging, electrocution, lethal injection
and shooting. The two most common methods capital punishment use in the United States are lethal
injection and electrocution.
The lethal injection is the most used form of capital punishment. It's an intravenous shot that kills the
criminal quick and painless. When capital punishment is done by electrocution the criminal is
strapped to a chair that a volts of electricity is pass through.
In America if all people agree...show more content...
The first pros of capital punishment are that it works as deterrence against major crimes. The death
penalty is a punishment that creates fear in the mind of any sane person. Most criminals would think
twice if they knew their own lives were at stake. Although there is no statistical evidence that death
penalty deters crime, we have to agree that most of us fear death.
The most conclusive evidence that criminals fear the death penalty more than life without parole is
provided by convicted capital murderers and their attorneys. 99.9% of all convicted capital murderers
and their attorneys argue for life, not death, in the punishment phase of their trial. (prodeathpenalty)
A Second pro is that a criminal that is executed can't another crime or escape. A dead criminal can
no longer commit a crime, and therefore the danger to the public is permanently removed.
A third pro of capital punishment is that it's more economical. Why should money be spent on a
criminal when it could be spent on education, the sick, or the needy? The only reason why it is so
expensive to execute an individual, is because of the numerous appeal processes. (~ab2166)
Another pro is that the retribution to the family and loves ones of the victims is payed. Endless
stress and anxiety plague the families of the victims and executions puts all those stresses to rest
better than life–long imprisonment or
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4. Capital Punishment Debate Essay
Capital Punishment Debate
The death penalty is a tough debate and an overwhelming argument in this country. We as Americans
put Timothy McVeigh to death by lethal injection just three months ago. Arguments can be made for
and against the death penalty, but this is not the problem. Capital Punishment is supposed to be a
deterrent to crime, but is the death penalty really a deterrent? Capital Punishment is not a deterrent
for crime, and the effects of Capital Punishment are actually hurting the American citizens. Capital
Punishment affects the American citizens by having those citizens pay millions of dollars for death
row inmates, and these criminals affect those same citizens because the...show more content...
Americans could spend so much more money on more important things such as improving the
schools around the nation or educating our children about drugs and other important issues,
however, the governments of the United States are wasting the tax dollars of hard–working citizens,
on a policy that isn't effective. The Death Penalty is no longer a deterrent to crime, and that is
affecting the citizens of the United States. Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said that she
has yet to find any evidence that the death penalty deters crime. "I have inquired for most of my
adult life about studies that might show that the death penalty is a deterrent. And I have not seen any
research that would substantiate that point," said Reno. The Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that
the South repeatedly has the highest murder rate. In 1999, it was the only region with a murder rate
above the national rate, and the South accounts for 80% of all executions. The Northeast, which has
less than 1% of all executions in the U.S., has the lowest murder rate (DPIC). These facts are
undeniable and show that the death penalty does not deter crime. When comparisons are made
between states with the death penalty and states without, the majority of death penalty states show
murder rates higher than non–death penalty states. The average murder rates per 100,000
populations in 1999 among death penalty states was 5.5, whereas the average of murder
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