Banning Capital Punishment in the United States Essay

Last but not least, from a sociologic perspective, capital punishment does not work as intended, to deter crime rate, rather, it might brutalize individuals, at the same time does nothing good to the victim’s family other than brutal vengeance. The origin of death penalty is served as a vehicle to put a warning for those potential future criminals that such kind of behavior will lead to death. However, so far, no clear evidence can be seen that capital punishment, as a mechanism of deterrent, actually cut down the local crime rate. Ironically, a reversal trend was found by Death Penalty Information Center (2010) in the USA that the death penalty leads to an increase in local murder rate. To die might be too easy for the mindless murderers. Also, for the relatives or friends of criminals put into death through capital punishment, they are more likely to be

The Death penalty practices are one of the controversial issues that have been over debate in the United States in the past years (Anckar 7). Individuals, groups, and scholars have raised a number of the political spectrum about the application of the death penalty as the best method of reduces and controlling criminal activities in the society (Steiker, and Jordan 197). According to a number of social studies and reports, it is clear that capital punishment has been used unfairly against minority groups, against the poor as well as against individuals of particular ethnic, religious as well as racial groups in the United States (Anckar 11). This indicates that the death penalty is mostly applied discriminatory and badly in the society. Despite this, there are also those who argued that the death penalty is one of the best methods that can be used in reducing criminal activity and crime rates in the society (Steiker, and Jordan 193). This is because capital punishment usually allows the elimination of criminals in the society completely. There are also various religious beliefs and political policies in various countries globally that support death penalty as the best way of punishing stubborn believers and individuals in the society (Anckar 21).

Lena Baker an African American Women in Georgia was unjustly murdered by the state and country in 1945. Her boss, Earnest Knight, was an abusive man, who made sexual advances on this women. After being scared for her life she acted in self defense in order to save herself. In the possess of fighting for her life she killed Knight. An all white male jury found Lena guilty of murder, and was sentenced to execution by electrocution. After her death in 1945 she was pardoned of all charges in 2003. This tragic tale shows how the justice system can be broken and have perpetual consequences. A society that murders for justice is not a morally just society because of the degradation of ethics and the

Is it logical to murder a murderer? The death penalty is a punishment of execution, which is administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. This form of punishment has been used as far back as the eighteenth century B.C to the present. With all the past and current issues of the death penalty, should the death penalty continued to be used? The main reasons why the death penalty shouldn’t be used is because it is a legal form a murder, has many technical difficulties and causes post traumatic stress in the administrators of the capital punishment.

I find no conclusive evidence to support the view that the death penalty is or is not an effective deterrent in controlling crime. Opponents of capital punishment argue that it is not a deterrent, because in some states where capital punishment is allowed the crime rate goes up. Others argue that capital punishment deters violent crime, though it is difficult to provide numerical evidence. Dozens of studies have examined the relationship between murder and the death penalty comparing murder rates in areas with the death penalty to those in areas without the death penalty. Murder rates have been examined when the death penalty was added or removed in various areas and countries. None of these studies establish that the death penalty

Capital punishment has been part of the criminal justice system since the earliest of times. But opponents have argued that the death penalty is racist, economically unjustified, and in violation of the United States Constitution as "...cruel and unusual punishment" (“Chronology”). However, today much of the debate over capital punishment is about whether it is morally right to sentence a person who has committed a serious crime to death. This paper will address the moral issues in the controversy over whether capital punishment should be abolished.

In recent centuries the majority of American citizens supported the death penalty believing it served both as a deterrent and as an appropriate response to particularly heinous crimes. Unquestionably, there are heinous acts of crime being committed. Yes, these crimes need to be addressed, victims and their families need validation and offenders needed to be prosecuted, punished and kept from harming others. Yet, in our imperfect legal system and often overzealous prosecution mistakes are inevitable. Seemingly conclusive circumstantial evidence, coerced confessions, emotionally biased witness testimonies, inadequate legal representation and community pressure all fatal ingredients that could lead to a life altering mistake by a jury of the accused peers or a presiding judge. It could be argued that death is what murderers deserve. However, requiring that the punishment fit the crime is an unacceptable principle, we would then have to apply this to all crimes such as rape, assault and torture. While

“Any last words?” is the sentence that is given to the people who are about to be put to death.

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

Capital punishment has been in effect for centuries, and the topic of the death penalty invokes massive controversy still to this day. According to the Death Penalty Information Center (2015), Lake Research Partners took a poll in 2010, based on “support for alternatives to the death penalty.” The outcome of the survey resulted with a mere 33% of Americans in favor of capital punishment, in contrast to the 61% that were in support of an alternative to the death penalty. The remaining 6% voted they had no opinion either way. Is capital punishment the reasonable means of reprimand for the murder of another human being?

Capital punishment is the execution of a perpetrator for committing a heinous crime (homicide), and it is a hotly debated topic in our society. The basic issue is whether capital punishment should be allowed as it is today, or abolished in part or in whole. My argument is that:

While researching about criminal justice, I came across a few online articles with very shocking statistics about our current legal systems on the issue of capital punishment. The following statistics vividly captured my attention, “from January 1, 1997, to December 31, 2000, 683 executions took place in 31 states”. Another statistic was that “1,188 people were executed in the US from 1977 through 2009”. From this figures, it came to my mind that 1,188 men, women, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and children were denied the chance to life by our legal systems without the opportunity of rehabilitation or change; to make matters worse, some innocent but evidence strongly supporting the conviction, call it being at the wrong place at the wrong time. In this essay I’d like to point out the negativity of capital punishment, otherwise known as the death penalty, and why our legal systems need to abolish it.

Although opponents of capital punishment have a valid point, these are just a small number of isolated cases, when compared to the number of inmates currently awaiting execution throughout the United States. Although it is true that the murder rate is higher in states that allow capital punishment, it is simply because there are more states that allow it, moreover, the population of these “death penalty” states exceeds the population of “non-death penalty states (2009). It is not difficult to imagine that the larger the population is, the greater probability exists for crimes to occur, including murder. Capital punishment may also prove to be beneficial in deterring capital crimes, however, skeptics rebut this claim.

Capital punishment is a brutal, antiquated concept that must be abolished in the name of civilized society. A humane culture cannot abide the organized extermination of human beings in the name of justice. In the United States, dozens of people are put to death every year like stray animals, only perhaps in less humane ways. The methods of capital punishment vary greatly, but none are publicly accepted as humane. Society's support for the death penalty is waning, but there is still enough support in the United States to keep it legal in many states. The death penalty exercises only the most primal instincts to kill and extract revenge in an organized fashion. This is why the death penalty must be

Throughout the history of humanity, punishments have been in place for the wrongful acts of citizens within governmental systems of all kinds. In America during the early days of the country, the death penalty was a more viable solution than it appears today due to the quality of the prisons, which couldn’t sustain prisoners long-term. (Von Drehle, 2015). Today, this is not an issue with prisons that are provided both by the state and federal governments and that are fully capable of holding offenders throughout the length of a life sentence (Von Drehle, 2015). However, many will argue that capital punishment should be eliminated. Foes of the death penalty are split into two groups with one that argues that capital punishment should and will cease based upon public support, that it doesn’t deter crime, and the current processes of executions are too costly and problematic. The other will take a more humanitarian approach and claim that it is not the role of the government to decide the fate of an individual, and that crimes punishable by death are not justifiable. Determent, morals, severity of the crime, and revenge are among the many arguments that are geared in favor of protecting a centuries old government system. These groups give more pragmatic reasons as arguments.