Death Penalty. The Writer Explores

¶ … death penalty. The writer explores the death penalty and various issues that go with the topic including objections and rebuttals to those objections. The writer examines the issues on both sides and presents evidence of why the death penalty should be supported. There were sources used to complete this paper.

Imagine coming home and walking in the door and finding a spouse, child or other loved one dead on the floor. Investigation finds that the person has been brutally raped, then murdered. Further investigation determines the loved one struggled valiantly in the minutes before death and most likely suffered terribly at the hands of the murderer. Then imagine how scared that loved one must have been just before death, and how his or her last thoughts were probably about family and loved ones and knowing they would never see them again. Imagine that victim crying and begging for his or her life. Imagine they pleaded and begged not to die and promised anything the murderer wanted if only he or she would be allowed to live. Imagine the murderer promising not to hurt the loved one if sexual favors were given, and they were and then the murderer laughed and killed the victim anyway as she or he screamed and cried for help. Then the murderer got away but was soon caught and showed no remorse whatsoever for causing the death of someone, or the deep and searing pain to the victim's family members. Now imagine the death penalty being one of the options for punishment for that murderer. The debate gets harder when those debating have actually experienced the above scenario. Any other angle is purely argument. If those opposed to the death penalty had to imagine and feel the above scenario while debating the death penalty they may change their mind. The death penalty provides a fair and just punishment for those who commit murder and other crimes of horror.

DEATH PENALTY ARGUMENTS: Death Penalty Debate (http://www.lexingtonprosecutor.com/death_penalty_debate.htm)

Capital punishment is the use of death as a punishment for a convicted crime. It has been used from the time of ancient history to punish those who commit various crimes. Throughout American history, society has given and taken away the death penalty as the mood has struck its members. The death penalty has been voted in and out of favor dependant on many variables such as politics, societal attitudes and what horrific crimes recently made the news.

When the word death penalty is used, it makes yelling and screaming from both sides of extremist. One side may say deterrence, while the other side may say, but you may execute an innocent man."

From the beginning of the nation the death penalty was legal. It was not until 97 that it was voted out of favor and the Supreme Court declared that it was unconstitutional.

Capital punishment was legal until 1972, when the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional in Furman v. Georgia stating that it violated the Eight and Fourteen Amendments citing cruel and unusual punishment. However, in 1976, the Supreme Court reversed itself with Gregg v. Georgia and reinstated the death penalty but not all states have the death penalty."

There are currently states that do not have the death penalty as a punishment option. They are:

Alaska, District of Colombia, Hawaii, Iowa, Main, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Opponents of the death penalty cite the fact that it is used after the crime has been committed so it obviously does not act as a deterrent. This same argument can be applied to all criminals and sentences. No one is sentenced to jail or prison until they have committed a crime and been convicted of that crime. They are sent to prison or jail for punishment. Their punishment is not supposed to only change them but also to deter society from crime by being a deterrent.

Those who oppose the death penalty point to the room for human error and say that people may be executed that did not commit the actual crime they are being executed for.

All of the arguments against the death penalty, on the surface make sense, but in the end they are weak because they do not hold up against the bottom line. An eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth. The public majority, the bible and the law all allow for the death penalty and that is because it is a fair and just punishment for the worst crimes against society.

A criminal on death row has a chance to prepare his death, make a will, and make his last statements, etc. while some victims can never do it. There are many other crimes where people are injured by stabbing, rape, theft, etc.

To some degree at least, the victims right to freedom and pursuit of happiness is violated."

The death penalty is something that should only be used for the most horrific crimes, but when those crimes are committed the death penalty serves a positive purpose.

PRO-DEATH PENALTY

There are several things that the convicted criminal has that the victim was not given. One of those things is the judicial process. The criminal who has been convicted of a crime horrific enough to receive the death penalty gets many chances at appealing the sentence before it is actually carried out. The appeals process can take years to complete which gives many opportunities to prove any wrongful conviction. In the years that it takes to file the appeals and go through that process the criminal has time to build sympathy and get groups working to stop the execution.

One study that was conducted in the 1960's concluded that the death penalty was an effective deterrent in that time frame.

There are many reasons that the death penalty should remain in affect. At the time there was a ban placed on the death penalty murder rates increased at percent. That statistic alone is an excellent argument in favor of the death penalty. For those who say that the death penalty does not act as a deterrent because it is only sentenced and carried out after the crime has been committed they are not looking at the statistics.

A in 27 states. When there was a moratorium on Capital Punishment in the United States, the study showed murder rates increased by 100%. The study also reviewed 14 nations who abolished the death penalty.

It (the study) claimed murder increased by 7% from five years before the abolition period to the five years after the abolition."

People are afraid to die. It is human nature to fear it and to avoid it if at all possible. Those who are diagnosed with a terminal illness have counselors to help them prepare because the thought of death is so scary for them. The death penalty is a useful and effective deterrent because people are afraid to die, therefore will hesitate in many cases to commit any crime that may cause them to suffer death as a consequence.

Death Penalty Saves Lives http://www.prodeathpenalty.com/OrnellasPaper.htm

When somebody commits a premeditated murder the death penalty is a fair and just punishment. That person should never be allowed to enter society again. They should not be allowed to convince the public they have changed and they should not be able to remain alive when their chosen victim is dead and can never come back.

In an interview with Professor van den Haag, a psychoanalyst and adjunct professor at New York University, was questioned,

Why do you favor the death penalty?" His answer was that the Federal prison had a man sentenced to Life who, since he has been in prison committed three more murders on three separate occasions.They were prison guards and inmates. There's no more punishment he can receive, therefore, in many cases, the death penalty is the only penalty that can deter. He went on saying "I hold life sacred, and because I hold it sacred, I feel that anyone who takes some one's life should know that thereby he forsakes his own and does not just suffer an inconvenience about being put into prison for sometime."

Fresh debate as U.S. death sentences dip to new low Agence France Presse English; 4/26/2005 Agence France Presse English>

For proof that the death penalty works as a deterrent one only needs to turn to the statistics since its reinstatement more than two decades ago. Since that time the death penalty has dipped to an all time low as the deterrent factor has worked and the number of premeditated murders has been reduced as well.

Death penalty advocates needle Romney over bill.(News)

The Boston Herald; 5/3/2005; Wedge, Dave

http://www.religioustolerance.org/execut4.htm#public

Byline: DAVE WEDGE

Gov. Mitt Romney's death penalty bill - already slammed by liberals - is now being blasted by a tough-on-crime victims' rights group as shoddy, "pro-killer" legislation destined for failure.

It looks like it was written by a criminal defense attorney," said Mike Paranzino of the pro-death penalty group Throwawaythekey.org. "It is stacked again and again in the killers' favor and victims are an after-thought. It would be unlikely to ever lead to an execution in Massachusetts."

Chief among the group's gripes is that the bill does not specifically call for death in child or sex slayings but would put death on the table for inmates serving life who kill behind bars. Romney's bill provides the death penalty for killings involving terrorism, the murder of a law enforcement officer and slayings involving multiple victims or torture - all backed by irrefutable DNA evidence.

Paranzino also said a requirement for "no doubt" scientific proof conflicts with existing "reasonable doubt" standards. "This bill itself deserves to die of lethal injection," he said. "America is safer without this bill than we would be with it."

Romney aide Shawn Feddeman said the governor "focused on the worst of the worst murders (in drafting the legislation) because of objection that previous death penalties were too broadly applied."

She added: "However, if the Legislature wants to add more categories to the crimes that would be subject to the death penalty we would support that effort."

Boston Herald

Does the death penalty deter homicides?

People murder for a variety of reasons and under many different situations e.g.:

during domestic disputes, when passions are inflamed.

A under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, when the perpetrator is not in rational control.

A hit-men doing contract killings; they typically never expect to be arrested.

A psychopaths and other mentally ill individuals who have little regard for human life and who are unable to accept responsibility for their actions self-destructive individuals who believe that they deserve to die and want to be arrested and executed.

A brain-damaged individuals, who experience periods of rage, and occasionally kill.

With the exception of professional hit-men, very few people are in a rational frame of mind when they kill others. It may be hopeless to expect any form of punishment to act as a deterrent.