Capital Punishment

7 Pages 1650 Words

DOES CAPITAL PUNISHMENT DETER VIOLENT CRIME?
IDEALS IN CONFLICT

Capital Punishment is the state ordered execution of an offender convicted of a crime and punishable by death (Bender 1). It is a topic that provokes deep emotional reactions for those on both sides of the issue. Over the past 200 years, Americans have been arguing passionately about the death penalty without reaching a moral, legal, or practical consensus. Most ancient societies accepted the death penalty as a reasonable punishment for certain crimes. European settlers brought the death penalty to the American colonies, where idolatry, witchcraft, blasphemy, murder, adultery, rape, perjury, and rebellion were all capital crimes in 1636. The continuing use of the death penalty reflected societies belief that severe crimes warranted severe punishments and that such punishments would deter others from committing such crimes. (Bender & Leone 16) As we enter the dawn of the 21st century, the death penalty is considered by most civilized nations as cruel and inhuman punishment. In fact, the United States is one of the few democratic nations still using capital punishment. While the religious community is adamantly against capital punishment, the majority of American people are still for capital punishment. Recent public opinion polls show that the American public favors capital punishment. Since the late 1960’s, the American public has, according to every available measure, been for capital punishment by a majority of more than two to one (O’Sullivan 2). Capital punishment is a necessary deterrent to violent crime, if only for the sole reason that it keeps one murderer off the streets.
Consequently, it is not surprising then that every presidential candidate this year is solidly supporting capital punishment. In recent years, the debate has been further fueled by the use of new technologies, which have shown that a large proportion of people sentenced ...