Capital Punishment Research Essay Research Paper Capital

Capital Punishment Research Essay, Research Paper

Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment refers to the sentence or decision to

a capital crime such as murder, rape, or assault. Many times,

the sentence is life in prison or execution. Currently, the

United States is the only western democracy that still has

execution on the books. An alternative to execution is life

imprisonment, which is common throughout the world. There are

many features, however of life imprisonment that are debated.

Treatment of offenders of capital crimes is questionable in

certain prisons. Also, the safety of society is a question at

hand when discussing life imprisonment assuming the prisoner

could be up for parole or escape. Lastly, the rehabilitation

process of offenders of capital punishment is a big question

mark. Many wonder what success it brings, just how effective it

really is, and what its purpose is for criminals who’ve

committed such horrible crimes as homicide, or other capital

crimes.

The Article “The Wrong Man” by Alan Berlow points out

some of the wrongs about the death penalty. There are numerous

stories of men who spent their life on death row, only to be

released days or hours before their death because of being

proved innocent. In his article Alan talks about “the growing

number of innocent prisoner being discovered on death row” and

how the government needs to “wake up”(Berlow 7). This means

that more and more cases are being rushed to execution without

all of the facts. Remember, in order to give a sentence, the

client must be guilty beyond reasonable doubt, and it seems

that this is sometimes ignored as unclear cases are being

pushed by officers and lawyers to executions. Another point

brought up by Berlow is how good of a lawyer defendants have in

these capital cases. “Most public defendants are so poorly paid

that talented lawyers tend to stay away from this sort of

practice (Berlow 9).” This means that defendants that are poor,

which most are, cannot afford to get a lawyer that will look

into the case as much as he can, and try to help the defendant

as much as possible. Because of the economic status of most

people tried for murder, a lot of cases end up being like this,

where the public lawyer is paid poorly and doesn’t give much

effort towards the case at all.

Berlow also talks about how the death penalty may be

taken away. He says “if it could be proved that an innocent

person has been executed (Berlow 14)”, the public support would

drastically decline. Now, Berlow says “70-76% support the death

penalty depending on the poll (Berlow 13).” This is a major

increase from the earlier part of the century, and as

executions become more and more common, public opinion and

media attention go down. Berlow says how maybe if someone that

was innocent beyond doubt was executed like in England, the

same result of England would be likely to happen: a banning of

the death penalty. To conclude the article Alan Berlow gives a

few revisions of the system he think would help errors in the

system, starting with how defendants are investigated to how

the trail goes and how the evidence is conducted. The death

penalty can be good, if used correctly. This form of capital

punishment is not a bad thing, as long as there is justice and

fairness in the case. However, if it continues to be sketchy,

it may soon become clear that an innocent man has died for

another’s crime, and the future of the death penalty may be up

in the air.

Besides the death penalty, capital punishment can also

refer to life imprisonment and the various aspects of it. This

includes the treatment of prisoners, and the respect they are

given by their officers. Another aspect of life imprisonment is

the idea of maximum security. The public does not want

criminals convicted of a capital crime back on the streets

because of an escape or something like that. Another factor of

life in prison is the rehabilitation process offered by most

all prisons. Many, wonder, though, just how effective the

educating and reformation of prisoners really is, and if it is

neccessary at all.

Treatment of criminals of capital crimes is a debatable

topic. Some feel that they should be treated bad to get revenge

at them, others say that they need to be treated like equals.

Chapter 2 of the textbook gives the Christian point of view

when it says, “The Catholic Church has a long tradition of

respecting the dignity of those in prison (textbook 35).” This

quote shows how Christians feel, following the will of Jesus

who once told of how what we do to those in prison, we do to

him. Jesus says if we can treat them well, we are treating him

well. Chapter 2 of the textbook also, however points out tha

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