Death Penalty

3 Pages 869 Words

An Eye for a Leg
Capital punishment is often considered to be an even trade for someone who has committed the heinous act of murder but due to many facts it does not seem to add up with cost value, the lack of justice being guaranteed, and it’s many inconsistencies for which is carried out. The commonly offered arguments for the death penalty are filled with holes. It is a deterrent, It removes killers, It is the ultimate punishment, It is biblical, It satisfies the public’s need for retribution, and It relieves the anguish of the victim’s family are all common statements made by death penalty supporters. Realistically, These statements do not hold true due to it not being proven as a deterrent, how many non killers it also removes, it does not change what was already done, and furthermore revenge should not be a good enough reason for murder if it is not for the common population.
Perhaps the most frequent argument for capital punishment is that of deterrence. The idea of the death penalty was to dissuade other criminals from committing violent acts. Numerous studies have been made attempting to prove this belief, however, all the evidence taken together makes it hard to believe that capital punishment deters more than long prison terms do. We could execute all the people on death row, and most people would not feel any safer tomorrow. In addition, with the population growing, the number of inmates actually put to death is lower than 50 years ago. This decline creates a situation in which the death penalty is not a deterrent when the most criminals begin to think that one can get away with a crime and go unpunished. Also, the less that the death sentence is used; the more it becomes unusual thus coming in conflict with the eighth amendment.
The key part of the death penalty is that it involves death. This creates a major problem when there continues to be many instances of innocent people being sentenced to death. In our le...