The Death Penalty

The Death Penalty Francesco Scafuro SOC 101 Catina Erwin February 19, 2011

The Death Penalty Death Penalty

The death penalty is a widely disputed topic within our society, religion, and even in our homes. Many legitimate arguments can be made in favor of or in opposition of the death penalty. There are many different viewpoints that one can further look and that can be argued. Whether you are in favor of or oppose it, there are many convincing and intriguing points that can be made. These specific arguments taken into account the diverse perspectives of different protesters directly facing the effects.

Death penalty is not a deterrent, clearly the crime rates have not gone down at all. The death penalty is unsuccessful as a viable deterrent to crime for following reasons. In fact, the United States rate is six times higher than Britain and five times than Australia. Neither Britain nor Australia has the death penalty. Over the last 25 years, the European Council has worked feverishly to ban the death penalty throughout all of Europe. In the last ten years there has not been one execution in any of the 47 countries that make up the European Union. It does not restore a victim to life but rather extends a cycle of violence and brutality. Human rights abuses should not be met with another human rights abuse. Abolishing the death penalty does not mean being soft on crime people who comm. it terrible crimes should be punished severely and learn that their behaviour is unacceptable. (Flairie, 2006 pg 351)

The death penalty has been legally outlawed in these 47 countries. However here in the United States, Texas for instance has executed more crimilnals than any other state but also has more than twice the murder rate of Wisconsin, which is a state that does not have the death penalty. Texas and Oklahoma have executed the majority of death row

The Death Penalty inmates, but since 2003 both states murder rates increased, and similarly both obtain higher murder rates than the national average. (Fagan, 2005)

I favor the death penalty because it is a form of revenge, also believe that it will prevent other criminals from committing murder. I follow the premise "an eye for an eye" since it does justify revenge. The death penalty is used as a release of the sentiments that the family, friends of a victim have towards the killer, by putting them to death it will restore law and order. I also believe that the absence of this type of revenge not existing will lead the family and or friends of the victim to retaliate and turn to their own form of justice. A person receiving the death penalty as punishment for their crime is less of a cost to the public than a life sentence in prison.

The death penalty removes any possibility that even the worst criminals can have another opportunity to get back into society to commit another violent crime and or kill again. The death penalty allows for family, friends of the victim to have some type of closure, knowing the criminal suffered and paid for their horrible actions. A country that does not punish its grave offenses severely thereby indicates that it does not regard them as grave offenses, and if the United States may rightly honor its heroes, it may rightly execute the worst of its criminals." (Tushnet, 2007)

I do not believe that youths who have committed violent crimes should be subject to the death penalty. The reason for their actions could possibly be a result of their surroundings, upbringing, family or lack of family. They are young, some even too immature to even know or aware of what they have actually done. The still have the opportunity to be regretful of their actions, go through rehabilitation which could give

The Death Penalty them the chance of a somewhat normal life. This is the reason why most youths go

hrough the juvenile system, not tried as an adult because it protects from being subjected to the consequences of an adult being convicted.

The death penalty is a highly argued topic within our many forms of government, religion, and even in our homes. Many valid arguments can be made in favor of or in opposition of capital punishment. There are many different viewpoints that one can further look and that can be argued. Whether you are in favor of or oppose it, there are many convincing and intriguing points that can be made. There are many compelling and intriguing cases that can be made. One can argue capital punishment violates human rights. Be it in favor of or opposing the death penalty, everyone can agree that when a murderer kills a person, did he or she ever think about the rights of the victim.

The Death Penalty References Dieter, Richard. (2007) Costs of the Death Penalty and Related Issues Journal of The Politics of Crime. 11(3), 290300 Fagan, Jeffrey. Death Penalty and Deterrence: A Critical Review of Evidence. January, 2005 Journal of Committee on Correction Vol. 18 Issue 3, p23-27 Tushnet, Mark. Weak Courts, Strong Rights: Judicial Review and Social Welfare Rights in Comparative Constitutional Law 2007 Princeton University Press Flairie, Tori. Execution as Torture. Journal of Peace Review. Vol. 13 (2006). p. 349-355