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Capital Punishment Is a Necessary Deterrence in Society The most sever of all the sentence is the death penalty. Death penalty has been banned in many countries throughout the world, while in many other countries capital punishment is still used. The abolishment of the death penalty is still one of the major political and social issues. Many people support this form of punishment, while others are against practicing death penalty.
Capital punishment is the harshest form of corporal punishment, because it requires law enforcement officers to kill the offender. The three most recognized reasons for capital punishment are crime deterrent, eye-for-an-eye justice, and removal of undesirables from society. In fact, capital punishment has not proven to deter capital crimes in any state. Furthermore, in a sane and moral society the means of capital punishment (i. e. how prisoners are put to death) is anything but just.
Ultimately, society should aspire to the identification and remedy of that which causes the crime, not extermination of its citizens. It is patently absurd for a civilized society that has identified killing as wrong and inhumane, to endorse killing as a civil means of punishment. Capital punishment two words feared by many. Two words which are considered an eye-opener for the hardcore criminals.
These words are controversially embedded in the society's mind. So what is capital punishment? Capital punishment means death sentence. That is, anyone found guilty of murder or some heinous crime is punished with death. However, is there really a need for capital punishment? Will capital punishment deter the society from committing suicidal crimes?
Every human being has the right to live, has the right to choose his path of life. He has the right to make decision on what he wants to do. No one has the authority to make decisions whether he or she should die. The ideology of having capital punishment is practically inhuman. The thought of taking a persons live just because he had created a controversial crime, is just uncivilized. One has the right to live even he or she had done something unacceptable to his or her society.
The debate here is that capital punishment exists as to scare society to commit crimes. It exists to put fear in the society from doing any heinous crimes. Nevertheless, does this still prevent members of society from committing crimes? All around the world people still commit murder, rape and drug trafficking, which are considered capital crimes in certain countries. In addition, most of these people are not being forced to do so. They have choices.
They do not care about the death sentence for their crimes. These are people only care about money, wealth and pleasure. Capital punishment does not deter these people in anyway, away from crimes. Another issue that is a threat to capital punishment is that it has not acted as a deterrent, and crimes like murder and rape are on an increase. So why should we still have capital punishment? 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. The criminal is regarded as a person who willingly chose to commit a crime like murder. Therefore, he should gladly forfeit his life.
The criminal is considered a misfit in society. In the Philippines, the outraged father who rapes his own stepdaughter mercilessly was given the death sentence. He had outraged the modesty of the girl. The public had summoned the Philippines government to give the rapist the death sentence. A verdict made by the public. Is not this a form of retributive justice?
Society feels that killing convicted murderers will satisfy their needs for justice and vengeance. Society feels that certain crimes are so heinous that executing the criminal is the only reasonable response. Still is this the correct thing to do? 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. The community will be in chaos.
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, Illinois Supreme Court Justice, Chicago Tribune series, Nov. 14, 1999) The poll shows that a 73 -percent majority of Americans favor the death penalty in various circumstances: 38 percent favor it only for those convicted of the most brutal murders, mass murders and serial killings; 23 percent favor it for all of those convicted of murder, other especially violent crimes and major drug dealing; and 12 percent favor it for murder only. Nineteen percent of those polled oppose the death penalty. Five years ago, a Newsweek Poll found 78 percent supporting the death penalty and 17 percent opposing it. Among those who currently support the death penalty, 34 percent say the main reason is that it deters others from committing violent crime; 26 percent say an "eye for an eye" is just punishment for those convicted, the poll shows.
Among those who oppose capital punishment, 28 percent say the main reason is it results in some innocent people being put to death; 20 percent say the main reason is that it's wrong for the state to put people to death; and 11 percent say the main reason is it does not deter others from committing violent crime. Sixty-two percent of those polled say the death penalty is at least a minor deterrent to violent crime; 30 percent say it's not a deterrent at all, the poll shows. Seventy-two percent say they are at least somewhat confident (32 % are very confident) that those who are convicted of violent crimes and sentenced to death are actually guilty. In addition, some people believe that the individual criminal is not to blame entirely for the crime he commits. Society, which has not provided the right type of environment and education to cultivate him, should also be one to blame.
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. To use capital punishment as deterrence in society is irrelevant here.
We should try to indulge ourselves to forgive the mistakes people make. Capital punishment is not needed here. There is also the argument whereby capital punishment is here as an answer to the overcrowded prisons problem. Capital punishment exist not as a deterrence but a measure to control overcrowding in prisons, to save cost in lodging the hardcore criminals. Is not this the same as a cold-blooded murder? In the Koran, it is stated that death penalty is required for a wide variety of crimes, including sex before marriage, adultery, homosexual behavior and murder.
Therefore, in an Islamic country such as Iran, a person found guilty in committing these crimes will be sentenced to death without any chance appealing. Capital punishment here is a need and in no way used as a deterrence in society. Capital punishment is the religion of the society. Whether or not capital punishment is necessary deterrence in society is an issue that will continue to haunt us.
God has given life to humans. We should cherish the wonders given to us and in no way we should abuse our authority. Using capital punishment to deter society from doing committing crimes is unquestionable. Capital punishment should not be abolished and it should it be accepted in society unless due to religious circumstances.
Sources: web web web web web web Moses Harrison II, Illinois Supreme Court Justice, writing regarding a 1998 appeal of a Death Row inmate, as quoted in Chicago Tribune series, Nov. 14, 1999
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Research essay sample on Capital Punishment Is A Necessary Deterrence In Society
