Capital Punishment Essay, Research Paper

?The?Capital punishment is the infliction of the death penalty on persons

convicted of a crime.? This has been a topic of debate for many years.

People who are for:

People who are against:

?Why do we kill people to prove killing people is wrong??

Unconstitutional

The 1st argument I have against capital punishment is that it?s

unconstitutional. Every person has an equal right to ?life, liberty, and the

pursuit of happiness.? This is a quote from American Civil Liberty Union

National Office, ?Capital punishment is a barbaric remnant of an uncivilized

society. It is immoral in principle, and unfair and discriminatory in practice.?

Does the government have the right to kill? Maybe in self defense, like a

policeman firing on a armed and dangerous criminal. Suppose we apply the

same standards to the government that we have for civilians. A civilian has

the right to shoot at an intruder as he is entering his home but if the civilian

catches the intruder and has him under his control, the shooting him would

be considered murder. That?s what capital punishment is…simple murder.

Against: I agree that capital punishment is a relic of barbarism but as murder

itself is barbaric, death is a fitting punishment for it. It goes along with the

?eye for an eye? principle. For example, someone steals $10 from you and

then the person who stole your money has the same thing happen to them?

Doesn?t that satisfy you? Many feel the same about murders who are

sentence to die. The criminal has brought the punishment upon himself, they

deserve what they get.

Cruel and unusual

The 8th amendment of the us constitution, condemn gruel and unusual

punishment is used to protest capital punishment.

For:: When the constitution was drafted, capital punishment was

practiced widely in this country, yet it was not specified as wrong or as cruel

and unusual. John Locke went as far to say that murder is not intrinsically

wrong. How can the constitution be brought into this argument, since it

makes no mention of capital punishment?

The methods by which executions are carried out can involve physical

torture. ?Electrocution has on occasion caused extensive burns and needed

more than one application of electric current to kill the condemned. It often

takes 10 minutes or more to die in the electric chair. It is also torture to keep

someone locked up when they know they are waiting to be killed.

Officials often defend this and say it?s not cruel and unusual, but how can

they defend this opinion in the case of John Evans who was executed by

electrocution in 1983? According to witnesses at the scene Mr. Evans was

given three charges of electrocution over a period of fourteen minutes. After

the first and second charges Mr. Evans was still conscious and smoke was

coming from oall over his body as a result of his flesh burning. An official

there even tried to stop the execution on account of it being cruel and unusual

punishment, but was unsuccessful. Witnesses later called th whole incident a

?barbaric ritual.?

NEXT ARGUMENT

The death penalty costs more than life in prison. It costs 5 to 6 times more

than lifetime imprisonment, according to studies in a number of states. Most

costs occur at trial level. Indiana, with smaller death row than Virginia?s

estimates it could save $5 million per year by abolishing capital punishment.

NEXT ARGUMENT

Murder rates are lower in states that have abolished the death penalty. The

Supreme court, United Nations, and numerous independent studies have

concluded that the death penalty has no effect on the crime rate, on average

the murder rate in U. S. which execute is almost double the rate in states

without the death penalty.

NEXT ARGUMENT

possible death of innocent

?In case of a mistake, the executed prisoner cannot be given another chance.

Justice can miscarry. In the last hundred years there have been more than 75

documented cases of wrongful conviction of criminal homicide. The death

sentence was carried out in eight of these cases? Undoubtedly many other

cases of mistaken conviction and execution occurred and remain

undocumented. A prisoner discovered to be blameless can be freed; but

neither releases nor compensation is possible for a corpse.

NEXT ARGUMENT

DOESN?T DETER CRIME

Contrary to popular belief, the death penalty does not act as a deterrent to

crime. ?Expert after expert and study after study have emphasized and

emphasized the lack of correction between the threat of the death penalty and

the occurrence of violent crime? Ehrlich?s study on the deterrent effect of

capital punishment in America reveals this. It spans twenty-five years, and

show that in the first year the study was conducted there were 8,060 murders

in 1957 and 65 executions. However in the last year of the study, there were

22,520 murders committed and 1 execution performed. The absence of

deterrence is clearly shown.

NEXT ARGUMENT

MURDER

What is the difference between the state killing and an individual killing?

The end result is the same…one more dead body, one more set of grieving

parents, one more cemetery slot. Every time we execute someone, we are

sending the most profound message of the value of human life. Every time

we execute someone, we as a society sink to the same level as the common

killer. The American people have blood on their hands, and it will stay there

until we finally remove this barbaric practice from our nation.

Next argument

Why do we kill people to prove that killing people is wrong? It is easy to

argue the practical points of opposition to the death penalty. It is obviously

not problem to be a deterrent unless my understanding of the word is

completely false. It costs more to prosecute capital crimes and ultimately life

in prison is more cast effective. The death penalty prolong the cycle of

violence and extends the pain of violence to the executed person?s family.

The punishment is irreversible, and one error in the realm of punishment is

unthinkable. The death penalty blatantly is an issue of elitism in society. It

is logical that those who can afford the best lawyers will fare the best in court

while those who simply cannot afford the best legal advice ride the winds of

chance. Capital punishment degrades society. .. . Why do we kill people to

prove that killing people is wrong?