Pros And Cons Of Capotal Punishment Essay

, Research Paper

Pros and Cons of Capital Punishment

Each year there are about 250 people added to death row and 35 executed. The death penalty is the most severe form of punishment enforced in the United Sates today. Once a jury has convicted a criminal of an offense they go to the second part of the trial, the punishment phase. If the jury recommends the death penalty and the judge concurs, then the criminal will face some form of execution. Lethal injection is the most common form used today. There was a period from 1972 to 1976 that capital punishment was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The reason for this decision was that the death penalty was deemed cruel and unusual punishment under the eighth amendment . The decision was reversed when new methods of execution were introduced. “The fundamental theory of punishment is that it is used for deterrence, for retribution and for reformation, and in the case of capital punishment there is a further basis urged for its retention-the need of eliminating those who menace the life and security of society.” Capital punishment is a difficult issue and there are many different opinions such as its deterrent value, the religious aspect, the safeguards against killing an innocent individual, the suffering of the family of the executed, the inequality of its utilization, and the economics of the death penalty.

Deterrence (Pro)

Fear of death deters people from committing crimes, proponents say. They also believe that if attached to certain crimes, the penalty of death exerts a positive moral influence by placing a stigma on certain crimes like manslaughter, resulting in attitudes of disgust and horror to such acts. Furthermore, retentionists insist that the deterrent influence of the death penalty reaches across state lines into jurisdictions that have abolished it, and so all benefit by its continued use. Perhaps this is the intended goal of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. It establishes constitutional procedures for the imposition of the death penalty for federal crimes. It applies to federal statutes that previously carried the death penalty and creates many new capital offenses. As a result of the Act, the death penalty may now be imposed for nearly sixty federal crimes. New capital offenses include the murder of a federal prisoner serving a life sentence, and drive by shootings in the course of certain drug offenses . Those in support of capital punishment think achieving model citizens and a better society happen through fear and intimidation.

Deterrence (Con)

Many other people say capital punishment does not deter crime. Opponents of capital punishment say the death penalty is not necessary. Other countries that no longer have the death penalty have not experienced an increase in the number of murders. The idea is that the death penalty does not deter crime. Countries such as Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, and Belgium have not carried out executions since the early part of the century, yet these countries have not experienced a rise in crime rates . However, deterrence is not the question when you are looking at the retributive value of capital punishment. Deterrence can only work if the threat of punishment is combined with the assurance that these acts are not only illegal and therefore punishable but immoral. Without the conviction of morality, the easily frightened will not break the law. However, the fearless, the irrational, and all others will break the law.

Apparently certain sections of society have been desensitized to the point that human life has no value whatsoever. To that segment of the population nothing will stop them from doing whatever they may want. To the ‘born killer’ type no deterrent is effective. These people do not think about the consequences of their actions. “But how many there are who do not fear death, or to whom its remote threat is less impressive, less admonitory than the temptation of some desperate exigency!” Lack of foresight and morals, however, cannot be used as an excuse for the crime. Some say capital punishment is a retributive justice, and no direct correlation to murder rates can be applied with respect to the death penalty’s deterrent value. Actual statistics about the deterrent value of capital punishment are not available because it is not possible to know who may have been discouraged from a committing a crime. Yet, if you are dead you will not perpetrate any more crimes.

Religious Aspect (Pro)

The Bible requires the death penalty for a wide variety of crimes, including sex before marriage, doing work on Saturday and murder. If we still lived by this code, not many people would be left alive. Even God imposed the death penalty directly for various transgressions. Some of these infractions included: wickedness, being abusive to strangers, lying about church donations, practicing birth control, and even being overly curious. Almost all if not all the populace would be eradicated if God still practiced this.

State Senator James Donovan, speaking in support of capital punishment said, “Where would Christianity be if Jesus got eight to fifteen years with time off for good behavior.” This is an interesting point. The government in Jesus’ time must have put him to death or there would be a radically different Christianity. Each Christian must be grateful to t