More than two centuries ago, the death penalty was commonplace in the United States, but today it is becoming increasingly rare. In the article “Should the Death Penalty Be Abolished?”, Diann Rust-Tierney argues that it should be abolished, and Joshua Marquis argues that it should not be abolished. Although the death penalty is prone to error and discrimination, the death penalty should not be abolished because several studies show that the death penalty has a clear deterrent effect, and we need capital punishment for those certain cases in which a killer is beyond redemption. It is said that there are better ways to punish the guilty and keep our communities safe besides capital punishment. Many people believe that “murder rates are lowest …show more content…
Evidence shows that the murder rate is decreasing due to what is thought to be capital punishment. “The U.S. murder rate decreased by 24 percent. Several academic studies show a clear deterrent effect from judicious use of the death penalty” (23). Most opponents claim that there are innocent people on death row; even if that is true,” … it has not been proven that even a single innocent person has actually been executed, so if the court can’t find something in those 12 years to prove the person innocent, it probably isn’t going to be found. The most important reason why the death penalty should not be abolished is because we need capital punishment for those cases in which a killer is beyond redemption. “Some claim lift without parole is an appropriate alternative to the death penalty” (23). Others say if you kill, you should be killed or if you commit a crime that is bad that you should be killed. “According to Gallup polls, 60 percent of Americans support the death penalty for a person convicted of murder” (23). Therefore more than half of Americans are for the death penalty/capital
Just turn on the news or read U.S.A Today and it is impossible to miss copious amounts of evidence pointing to the growth of violent crimes committed in our nation. Does this mean capital punishment is failing to deter crime, or are there statistics supporting the effectiveness of executions?
That has proven to be wrong. According to The Death Penalty Information Center, states that a report from The National Research Council did a study entitled The Deterrence and the Death Penalty. This report states that studies that the death penalty has any sort of deterrence of murder are “fundamentally flawed” murder continues to rise especially in the south where the most executions are carried out. This is why I believe that the money spent on capital punishment would be better spent on at risk youth in the way of after school programs and maybe even teaching technical
In the text Top 10 Pros and Cons-Death Penalty- ProCon.org it states, “Claims that each execution deters a certian number of murders have been throughly discredited by social research.” That means that executions are not doing their jobs. On the website www.ammestyusa.org/DeathPenaltyfacts states, “FBI data shows that the 14 states without capital punishment in 2008 had homicide rates at or below the national average.” So it's not
"It is impossible to say with certainty whether capital punishment significantly reduces the incidence of heinous crimes" (President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice 143). The United States has one of the highest crime rates and we are the only western nation that still allows the death penalty (Pragmatic Arguments 1). "A 1995 Hart Research Poll of police chiefs in the United States found that the majority of the chiefs do not believe that the death penalty is an effective law enforcement tool" (Fight the Death Penalty 3). These police chiefs rated reducing drug abuse the highest at 31%, better economy at 17%, simplifying court rules at 16%, longer prison sentences at 15%, more police officers at 10%, reducing guns at 3%, and
Every year, thousands of murders occur in the United States and all across the world. According to Wesley Lowe, during the temporary suspension of capital punishment between 1965 and 1980 alone, the annual murders in the United States jumped from 9,960 to 23,040. (Lowe, 2011). If you or one of your loved one became one of these statistics, wouldn’t you want justice? Now, capital punishment is in full effect and has slowly started to decrease that statistic.
The United States have been divided over the controversy of whether or not the death penalty is a humane punishment to use against criminals. Eighteen states, as well as the District of Columbia, have banned it, the remaining states have not. The government and law enforcements believe the death penalty deters crime rates across America. This has yet to be proven right. In S. E. Cupp’s article, “The Conservative Case Against the Death Penalty”, she says: “The country needs to have a clear-eyed conversation about the death penalty, one that puts both anecdotal and emotional arguments aside in favor of some serious analysis.”
"[There is] strong evidence for the deterrent effect of capital punishment... Each execution results, on average, in eighteen fewer murders with a margin of error of plus or minus ten” (http://deathpenalty.procon.org).
If a serial killer is caught and has no chance of being free, it saves lives of the people who could have been caught in their path. The death penalty will take many killers off the streets. "In summary, the recent studies using panel data techniques have confirmed what we learned decades ago: Capital punishment does, in fact, save lives. Each additional execution appears to deter between three and 18 murders," claimed David B. Muhlhausen in his testimony. Even if capital punishment only deters three murders, that is three lives that have been saved. The panel data research proves that the death penalty is not a harsh punishment because it saves the innocent lives of many citizens. It is true that, not every state agrees with the death penalty. There are 18 states that have a ban against the death penalty (Procon.org). Nevertheless, the website also states, "Throughout the 1990s, our society increased the number of executions, and the number of murders plummeted. Since 2001, there has been a decline in executions and an increase in murders." When executions are used more often, the rate of murders goes down. This also proves that the states that have the death penalty are more safe than the states that have a ban against
Even though the crime rate is rising, the death penalty is not the effective way to eliminate the crime. The death penalty should be abolished because it is not a deterrent to crime, an innocent person might be executed by mistake, and it is inhuman and degrading treatment.
Another argument is that the death penalty is not effective deterrence. The death penalty is not a proven deterrent to upcoming future crimes. There is not the slightest acceptable statistical evidence that capital punishment reduces the rate of murder. The death penalty is not a deterrent because most people who commit murders they do not think to be caught or do not care in the differences between possible execution and life in prison before they commit the crime. U.s has a higher murder rate then the other countries like Europe or Canada, these countries do not allow the capital punishment. (Arguments for and against
In 2015, 15,369 people were murdered in the United States Of America. This number could have been reduced if the government would have sentenced more murders with a life sentence to their death. Capital punishment will save lives, make society feel like justice is being served, and will make society safer.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about the death penalty through facts and data regarding capital punishment, evidence has shown that states without capital punishment have lower homicide rates than states with it. According to a source found within the organization, titled “Death Penalty Doesn’t Deter Crime”, a 2009 study found that “88% of the nation’s top criminologists believe the death penalty is not a deterrent.” A large number of murders are committed with no thought of punishment, or a “heat of the moment” situation. Therefore, the thought of being executed has no effect on a murderer’s actions, unless it was a planned murder. However, the majority of murders are not planned out. There are also murderers who do not believe there will be repercussions for their crime, and they will “get away with it.” Capital punishment just simply isn’t a proper way to avoid, or lower the chances of murderous acts in any way, shape, or
First, lets discuss the argument that believers of the death penalty posses. Pro death penalty warriors will bring up the point that it is credible for keeping crimes of the same caliber from taking place. If you take a look at a variety of other countries you will find that this is not true as many countries with no death penalty have much lower murder and crime rates. In fact “eighty-eight percent of the country’s top criminologists do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicide, according to a new study published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology” (Facts about Deterrence and the Death Penalty).
First off, the assumption that capital punishment deters crime is false. According to data you can find online on crime rates from 1973-1984, states that did use the death penalty had higher crime rates than the states that didn’t use it. This is an assumption made by people because they believe that capital punishment should decrease crime. But the fact is that it doesn’t. Many other places in the world have completely abolished capital punishment, which shows a need to advocate for the abolishment of this penalty.
The debate on whether or not the death penalty should be abolished has been ongoing for quite a long period of time. While there are those who believe that the death penalty does not serve its intended purpose, proponents of the same are convinced that the relevance of the same cannot be overstated and hence it should not be abolished. In this text, I examine the arguments for and against the death penalty.