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There has been a long standing argument over capital punishment. In fact, the debate on capital punishment can be traced back to Biblical times. There is a contradiction in the Bible Thou shalt not kill. and eye for an eye. You will also find this same contradiction in other religions.
The saying Let the punishment fit the crime is another maxim that implies that the murderer deserves to die. After many long cases of appeal after appeal the debate by the government has changed how quickly the sentence should be completed. In 1996 President Clinton signed the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. It is intended to limit the appeals in death penalty cases, which should make the death penalty more effective.
When a person is convicted of murder, he / she should face immediate death penalty. The media as a whole centers on the negative aspects of the death penalty, causing Americans to think that most are against it, when in actuality about 77 % of Americans armor it. Many supporters believe that people who take a human life deserve to lose their own life and that the death penalty is more effective than life imprisonment, but if anything the death penalty is almost too lenient. The original idea of capital punishment was intended to put the convict to death as a punishment for his or her wrong doings. But iou compare what some victims endure to when the criminal is executed peacefully beans of lethal injection, there really is no comparison.
A killer can go out on the streets and take life victim by victim and put them through very long and painful torture. Eventually they might get caught and their punishment is to die painlessly. Do you think that is fair? To quote Christine Chan, a devoted pro-death penalty researcher, Capital punishment is a controversial topic, but when I hear about some madman raping innocent young children, I blow up inside.
It infuriates me that justice is never reached as these people are never truly punished and regretful for their sins. For example, Ted Bundy wasa serial killer in Florida for 15 years. In those 15 years he tortured and killed more than 30 women. In the case against Ted Bundy, Mr. Blair, who was the Florida State Prosecutor, was quoted in saying, He killed for the sheer thrill of the act and the challenge o escaping his pursuers. Bundy was executed by means of the electric chair.
Do you think that is a fair punishment for what he did? Many others that are against the death penalty say that it is unconstitutional by quoting the 8 th amendment which forbids cruel and unusual punishment. A punishment is only cruel if it exceeds the crime. We do not allow executions for jaywalking or pick pocketing, only a murder can justify an execution in our society since it fits the crime. Another argument used by those against the death penalty is that it is too expensive, which would not be true if there were not so many appeals. The court cases can go on for years and years because of appeals, which means more lawyers and more money wasted.
Another concern of those opposed to the death penalty is that it appears discriminatory. Ernest Van Den Haag, a professor of social philosophy at New York University, said in testimony, It is suggested that the death penalty discriminates against the poor and the black. If this is truth suggestion would be nonetheless wholly irrelevant. It concerns the unfair way in which the penalty is distributed, not the fairness or unfairness of the penalty. Those who feel that the death penalty has no additional deterrent effect rest their case on the argument that statistics do not show a decline in the incidents of murder. From a study done by researcher Karl Spence, these statistics were found comparing the last year the death sentence was still in use (1960) to the last year before it was reintroduced (1975): 1960 56 executions and 9, 250 murders 1975 0 executions and 20, 510 murders.
Karl Spence was also quoted as saying, In six months, more Americans are murdered than criminals by execution in this entire century Until webmin to fight crime in earnest, every person who dies at a criminals hands is a victim our inaction. With the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act the number of appeals indepth penalty cases should be limited making the death penalty more effective. However, if capital punishment is dismissed on the basis that it doesnt decrease the number of murders, we might as well eliminate all prisons as well because they do not seem to be anymore effective in the diminishing of crime. As police chief Ed Davis once said, You dont shoot a rabid dog to deter other rabid dogs; you shoot him so he wont bite somebody. 32 c
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Research essay sample on Ted Bundy Death Penalty
