Capital punishment: Why?

Question

Why should the capital punishment be kept in the U.S.?
I'm doing this for an essay in class and I need help. Please and Thank you

Answer 1

You don't have to sympathize with criminals or want them to avoid a terrible punishment to ask if the death penalty prevents or even reduces crime and to think about the risks of executing innocent people. Your question is much too important to settle without thinking about these.

125 people on death rows have been released with proof that they were wrongfully convicted. DNA is available in less than 10% of all homicides and isn’t a guarantee we won’t execute innocent people.

The death penalty doesn't prevent others from committing murder. No reputable study shows the death penalty to be a deterrent. To be a deterrent a punishment must be sure and swift. The death penalty is neither. Homicide rates are higher in states and regions that have it than in those that don’t.

We have a good alternative. Life without parole is now on the books in 48 states. It means what it says. It is sure and swift and rarely appealed. Life without parole is less expensive than the death penalty.

The death penalty costs much more than life in prison, mostly because of the legal process which is supposed to prevent executions of innocent people.

The death penalty isn't reserved for the worst crimes, but for defendants with the worst lawyers. It doesn't apply to people with money. When is the last time a wealthy person was on death row, let alone executed?

The death penalty doesn't necessarily help families of murder victims. Murder victim family members across the country argue that the drawn-out death penalty process is painful for them and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.

Problems with speeding up the process. Over 50 of the innocent people released from death row had already served over a decade. If the process is speeded up we are sure to execute an innocent person.

Answer 2

If we as a society don't hold each other accountable for our actions, then we will have chaos. Society has to have fixed consequences for disobeying the law. And the punishment should match the crime.

Knowing all of that, should capital punishment be allowed? I think so. Yet I realize it's an intense subject that takes a great deal of thought. I'm glad the courts have the ability to sentence someone convicted of murder, and that it's not an automatic punishment for every murder.

It's a tough subject and I'm not sure you can come up with a definitive answer in an essay since our country as a whole can't even seem to agree on the issue. However, my advice is to pick a side of the issue and do everything in your power to prove that your opinion is correct. Even if you aren't sure you believe it. This is one of those assignments you just have to get done. :-)

Answer 3

Capital punishment is used as a deterrent to stop people committing murder in the U.S. There is still a hugh amount of violent crime in America; execution does not seem to work as a deterrent: Possibly because most murder is not premeditated and is often a crime of passion... Capital punishment is also used as a political tool to show the voting public that the government is doing something about violent crime... If you ask me any government that uses capital punishment is doing very little about violent crime. They are taking the easy option that helps win votes; rather than the higher moral option of tackling societies problems in an educated way: Perhaps getting rid of out dated gun laws would be a start... I believe you can not say that murder is wrong then use murder as a punishment... If murder is wrong then it is wrong in all cases, even government approved murder; which is what capital punishment is.. Though the problems of violence in America s society can not be solved so easily... removing the right to bear arms would cause it s own problems ( people don't give up their right so easily.) so perhaps having severe punishment, like capital punishment, is a necessary evil in a society that insists on having deadly weapons easily available to the general public.

Answer 4

Because, it is in the Bible and this country is considered a Christian country. It is very simple, God says to send them back to Him to do the judging (meaning execute them). He does not go easy on murderers. There is a verse about how the blood of someone speaks, I wish I could remember where that is, I'd quote it for you.

We don't do ourselves a favor in this country by letting these nut cases sit on death row year after year wasting our taxpayers money. Do you realized how much it costs to house just one of these murderers? Look it up, you will be shocked.

Once you show people how they will be dealt with should they choose to murder, I guarantee, the murder rate would go down drastically. Do away with it, watch it go up, and it has in states where they have either put it on hold or are considering it.

I say fry them, they had no mercy for their victims, why show them any? If someone is squeemish it, have those talk to the victims family and friends left behind.

Answer 5

they only reason is deterrent, but stats dont prove that out. I say life in solitary is a much worse punishemnt than death. life in a 3x5 cell. no visitaion, no sun, nothing. just sit in there until you die. cruel and unusual? no, not as cruel as whatever they did.

Answer 6

It should be one of the government's only roles in fact