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Every time a death penalty case arises, and the time comes for the convict, thousands of people across the nation support the punishment as well as protest the punishment. This issue does not have any proponents of a particular group. People are much split on this subject, regardless of race, background, age, gender, and other variables that distinguish individuals. The death penalty is a controversial social issue across our nation. Throughout the extent of time, feelings have changed from one spectrum to the other. In our recent past, people were executed for just stealing a horse.
Today on the other hand, it is a totally different story. In recent times, people can commit severe crimes, and can get away with their life and occasionally their freedom. The decision concerning the death penalty is in the hands of other people and this negatively reflects on the basic right of freedom of each individual. The governors ultimately have the power of life and death in their hands, and they should have the courage to do the right thing by ending state-sanctioned killing. (CUADP) Several major issues cause the debate over the death penalty. The first one is deterrence, which primary purpose is to avoid in the future criminal conduct. The deterrence theory suggests that a normal and rational person would try to avoid criminal behavior due to the reason that the benefits of such a behavior will be not as important as the opportunity to caught and sentenced to a death penalty.
It is believed that fear of death prevents people from illegal conduct. Most criminals would think twice before committing murder if they knew that they are risking with their own lives. One of the death penalty issues people are concerned about is retribution. It is the need for society to express sufficient disapproval for murderers. For many death penalty is the single way to express their grief and sufficiently punish criminals.
People who support capital punishment claim that the only proper response to the vilest murders should be the most sever punishment possible. It is also suggested that the use of the capital punishment in the way it is intended by law makes possible to reduce the number of brutal murders by eliminating some of the repeat offenders, which makes death penalty being used as a system of justice, not just a method of prevention. Modern supporters of death penalty no longer view this type of punishment as a deterrent. However, the most immediate and direct argument for the death penalty is, quite simply, that there is no recidivism. (Gregory) Another debate is arbitrariness, which is determined by arising primarily from impulse rather than from judgment or reason. The most important issue is the risk of mistake.
In the past, there have been already cases when innocent people were executed for the crimes they never committed. This problem had increased the debate this form of punishment is suitable to use, because when the person is killed it will be not possible to change something, even if later it had been proved that this person was actually innocent. The thing about the death penalty is that it is a final and irreversible punishment. Here is the view of the person, who deals with this issue almost everyday: The system is not working. Innocent people are being sentenced to death.
If these men dodged the executioner, it was only because of luck and the dedication of the attorneys, reporters, family members, and volunteers who labored to win their release. They survived despite the criminal justice system, not because of it (Moses Harrison II). I think that instead of death penalty life sentence in a jail would be more fair punishment. I believe it will be worse if at least a single innocent person out of hundred will be sentenced to death than 100 real criminals will work at jail. A 1988 poll carried out in Florida revealed that while the majority of those polled favored the death penalty, 70 % said that they support an alternative to the death penalty that would sentence convicted murderers to life in prison with their earnings going directly to the families of victims. (Stewart) Capital punishment is a form of retributive justice.
It is not meant to deter the society from committing crimes. It is a measure taken by society to give retribution to the so-called outlaws. People argue that the criminal is regarded as a person who willingly chose to commit a crime like murder. Therefore, he should gladly forfeit his life. People simply arent fearful of the death penalty when it isnt used the way it should be. (Stewart 50) Nevertheless, many factors make capital punishment unjustifiable. A criminal condemned to death could have committed the crime unintentionally such as insanity or self-defense.
Insane person is not guilty of his actions. How can death penalty be imposed on a person who does not know his own mind? In the United States and some other countries allows mentally ill person to be sentenced to death. Sentencing a mentally disturb person to death naturally would not deter society from committing crimes. It will make society more outraged of the law, motivating them to do more crimes. Riots will occur in protest.
As we have seen the death penalty is ineffective punishment. The death penalty should be substituted with life sentence in jail. From recent polls, most of the hard-core criminals come from backgrounds and has a tendency to come from broken families, which naturally reflects negatively on the criminals. Therefore, society has a duty to try to reform these criminals rather than eliminating them. Society should try to accept the difference nature of certain people. Not everyone is a model citizen.
Everyone has his own difficulties. The core pragmatic and empirical question is the amount of police officer and other crime fighting resources that could be put at the community's disposal for the prevention of crime if incarceration for life without parole, rather than the death penalty, was the available alternative. (Gregory) To use capital punishment as deterrence in society is irrelevant. We should try to indulge ourselves to forgive the mistakes people make. Capital punishment is not needed here.
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Research essay sample on Sentenced To Death Death Penalty
