Capitol Punishment

Capitol Punishment has been a very controversial and emotionally charged issue in the United State for over two hundreds years. Since we are talking about the irreplaceable act of taking a human being’s life it’s no doubt that this is a heated topic. In order to justify capitol punishment the prime considerations are; is it effective as a deterrent? Is it the most economical way to remove a danger from society? Why is the death penalty used as a means of punishment for crime? Is this just a way to solve the nations growing problem of overcrowded prisons, or is justice really being served? Is capitol punishment morally right? Throughout my paper I will be answering these questions and elaborating on an opposing standpoint of capitol punishment. Those who choose to support Capital Punishment are assuming that just because death is an absolute form of punishment, it will be a strong deterrent to crime. Yet, the US is the only Western nation that still allows the death penalty and we also have one of the highest crime rates (Bedau). During the 1980s, death penalty states averaged an annual rate of 7.5 criminal homicides per 100,000, while abolition states averaged a rate of 7.4 per 100,000 (Bryant). This data shows that a threa

Situations like this cannot be condoned in our society and the margin of error should be zero. Furthermore, the Miami Herald reported that Florida, with one of the nation's largest death rows, has estimated that the true cost of each execution is approximately 3. Jim Mattox, former Attorney General of Texas, who supported the death penalty during his term of office, does not believe that murderers in Texas are hindered by the death penalty. " Now this Commandment applies to the State as well as to the individual. 2 million, or approximately six times the cost of a life-imprisonment sentence. In the bible is say "Thou Shalt Not Kill. Many people that are against death penalty would say that it is morally wrong and would look at it from a religious point of view. This may sound awkward, but the death penalty saves lives. It seems that even supporters of the death penalty are unsure of its effectiveness. The penal system of the United States, and Texas in particular is already extremely overcrowded, and a positive environment can"tmt be produced without individual attention. Mattox interviewed nearly all the people executed in Texas between 1976 and 1988 and concluded that the death sentence never crossed their minds before they committed their crime. Keeping a prisoner in jail for life will be very expensive considering that it costs 80,000 a year; and the bad news is that the money comes from the taxpayer"tms pocket.