Linda Chin
Mr. Hoague
AP Lit and Comp, Period 1
14 October 2015
Thoughtful Reasoning for the Ultimate Punishment
Only the most dangerous criminals in the world are faced with society’s ultimate penalty, or at least that is the theory. Capital punishment, commonly referred to as the Death Penalty has been debated for many decades regarding if such a method is ethical. While there are large amounts of supporters for the death penalty as a form of retribution, the process is avoidable financially as taxing for all parties involved. The financial expenses may be better off saved for life imprisonment with an emphasis in restorative justice for victims. Overall, there is unreasonable inefficiency with the capital punishment to justify the taking of another person’s life.
The death penalty process is often overlooked in the justice system and exhausts millions of dollars on trials and repeals. Unlike countries with speedy execution processes, the U.S. judicial system is known for having lengthy trials and judgement dates because of mandatory appeals. Richard C. Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty Information Center, briefly describes the fundamentals of a death penalty case,“Every stage of a capital case is more time-consuming and expensive than in a typical criminal case. If the defendant is found guilty of a capital crime, an entire separate trial is required, with new witnesses and new evidence, in which the jury must decide whether the penalty should be
Inviting the reader to explore diverse ways of thinking about the morality of capital punishment. First, foundationally the death penalty seems moral, the act of wrongdoing results in wrongdoing being done upon the actor. However, this is a very hypocritical and barbaric way of punishment for a human being. One of the main purposes of prisons was to strip criminals of their rights and keep them secluded from society, which is a serious punishment in and of itself. It is extremely unnecessary to take away a person’s life, regardless of what crime they committed.
Is capital punishment justice? Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, remains to be one of the most hotly debated issues in the justice system. This subject contains large gray areas concerning many aspects of what is we consider modern justice. Many wonder if such a punishment should be allowed in our modern society. The argument of this paper is to convince others that capital punishment and all that it entails is a practical and just form of delivering justice, providing both secular and religious explanations as to why the death penalty is just.
The legitimacy of the use of capital punishment has been tarnished by its widespread misuse , which has clouded our judgment regarding the justifiability of the death penalty as a punitive measure. However, the problems with capital punishment, such as the “potential error, irreversibility, arbitrariness and racial skew" , are not a basis for its abolition, as the world of homicide suffer from these problems more acutely. To tackle this question, one must disregard the currently blemished universal status quo and purely assess the advantages and disadvantages of the death penalty as a punitive measure. Through unprejudiced examination of the death penalty and its consequential impacts, it is evident that it is a punishment that effectively serves its retributive, denunciatory, deterrent, and incapacitative goals.
Costs and Consequences of the Death Penalty, written by Mark Costanzo, neatly lists reasons for opposition, and abolishment of, the death penalty. Costanzo provides a review of the history of the death penalty, a review of how the death penalty process is working today, questions on whether or not if the death penalty is inhumane and cheaper than life imprisonment. He also questions if the death penalty is fairly applied and the impact, if any, that it has on deterrence. He closely examines the public's support of the death penalty and questions the morality of the death penalty. Finally, Costanzo provides his own resolution and alternative to the death penalty. Each of these items allows the reader an easy, and once again, neat view
Just by looking at the surface, one would assume that it would be less expensive to execute a prisoner versus providing them with “three hots and a cot” for the rest of their life. Surprisingly, some people support the death penalty mainly because they view it as a way of cutting costs and saving taxpayer’s money. “This argument is disturbing since it reduces the moral complexity of state imposed killing to a debate over dollars and cent.” However, it has now been firmly established by research conducted in different states and with different data that a modern death penalty sentence costs several times more than an alternative sentence of life in prison without parole.
Why is the death penalty used as a means of punishment for crime? Is this just a way to solve the nations growing problem of overcrowded prisons, or is justice really being served? Why do some view the taking of a life morally correct? These questions are discussed and debated upon in every state and national legislature throughout the country. Advantages and disadvantages for the death penalty exist, and many members of the United States, and individual State governments, have differing opinions. Yet it seems that the stronger arguments, and evidence such as cost effectiveness, should lead the common citizen to the opposition of Capital Punishment.
Upon examination, one finds capital punishment to be economically weak and deficient. A common misconception of the death penalty is that the cost to execute a convicted criminal is cheaper than to place a convict in prison for life without parole. Due to the United States judicial system, the process of appeals,
Capital punishment is a difficult subject for a lot of people because many question whether or not it is ethical to kill a convicted criminal. In order to critically analyze whether or not it is ethical, I will look at the issue using a utilitarianism approach because in order to get a good grasp of this topic we need to look at how the decision will impact us in the future. The utilitarianism approach will help us to examine this issue and see what some of the consequences are with this topic of capital punishment. For years, capital punishment has been used against criminals and continues to be used today, but lately this type of punishment has come into question because of the ethical question.
Capital punishment, commonly referred to as the death penalty, is a very controversial topic around the world. The death penalty is the execution of an offender of the law, that is sentenced to death if the court of law is convinced of a criminal offense. Throughout society, there are debates from both sides, over the ethics and legality of capital punishment, especially in the US. The existence of the death penalty leads to several questions, but the most frequent question asked is, “ Has the government established our justice system out of a desire for rehabilitation, or out of a desire for retribution.” (death penalty justice system).
The death penalty is a legal process where the person who had committed an insane crime of murder is sentenced to death by the state, as a demonstration of punishment for what the accuser has committed. Since long before, people have been using this method not only to show the consequences of committing an insane crime, but also as a kind of notice to anyone who had the intentions of committing such crimes. With no doubt, the death penalty has been a part of combating human crime in society for many centuries, and is considered a necessary way to eradicate dangerous criminals. In other people’s views, the subject of needing the death penalty became considered as an inhumane and unjust way to control and prevent criminal activity, its purpose and forms of use have been questioned for many years and the debate on whether it is necessary or not has been circling around. The death penalty needs to be kept in place as a way to prevent insane crimes, by taking an in-depth look at how it affects society.
In society there many things that are debated among the people based on their beliefs, morals, and values. For this paper chose the death penalty because it is one of the highly debated topics in not only today’s society but also in the past. The death penalty, also known as capital punishment, it used as a procedure of retaliation against those who commit violent crimes such as murder and other capital crimes. There are many forms of this punishment, for instance, the electric chair, lethal injections, and the firing squad. There are many feelings and arguments in relation to capital punishment. Some people believe that the death penalty is moral because they deserve it and it provides protection to the society. However, in this paper I will argue that capital punishment is totally immoral because it is not fair, is it unnecessary, and unethical.
Some of those who support the death penalty base their argument on the fact that it is a cost-effective alternative to life imprisonment. However, it may be more costly to execute an inmate than to have that person serve a life sentence (Amnesty International, 1987). A 1982 study in New York concluded that the average capital murder trial and the first stage of appeals costs U.S. tax-payers 1.8 million dollars (Bohm, 1987). It is estimated that this is less than it would cost to incarcerate someone for one hundred years. Other sources estimate that it can cost up to 2.2 million dollars to obtain and carry out a death sentence (Johnson, 1990). The principal factor in this cost is the appeals process, which lasts an average of ten years and is deemed necessary to reduce the likelihood of the execution of an innocent person.
The death penalty is an effective yet dying way of punishing murderers in today’s society. According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) the most murders executed since they year 1976 was 18 years ago now, in 1999, with 98 murderers executed that year. Regardless of the human ability to change one’s life, we should be increasing the amount of executions per year. If the amount of executions per year is increased the financially, the death penalty would be a smart way to save taxpayers’ dollars.
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.
Capital punishment is beneficial to the community. It provides the society with a sense of security. The death penalty contains a positive influence on the future. A heavily debated topic is, “Does capital punishment deter people more than a life sentence to prison?” An explanation on why will be covered later. An issues many people have with capital punishment, is when it is just or not just. This is a topic many stray away from, because it is difficult to decide. Finding the right consequence for an action is difficult. While this paper is for the use of capital punishment, it is clearly not needed for every crime, or even every murder. Overusing capital punishment, such as using it for every murder, will negatively impact the country, and not using it has the same effect.