Capital Punishment
Should society execute killers? At this point I have decided to take a position because there are many different cases. I am against Capital Punishment. There are too many inconsistencies within the judicial system that should be questioned when it comes to punishing a prisoner.The enforcement of the death penalty (capital punishment) has been an effective deterrent. Capital punishment is the execution of criminals by the state for committing heinous crimes such as rape and murder. The United States is one of the few countries left in the world to practice the savage and immoral punishment of death. Retentionists argue that the consequence of death prevents persons from committing the heinous crime of murder (www.encarta.msn.com).The death penalty is morally and socially unethical, should be construed as cruel and unusual punishment since it is both discriminatory and arbitrary, has no proof of acting as a deterrent, and risks the atrocious and unacceptable injustice of executing innocent people. As long as capital punishment exists in our society it will continue to spark the injustice which it has failed to curb. Capital punishment is immoral and unethical. It does not matter who does the killing because when a life is taken
It squanders the time and energy of courts, prosecuting attorneys, defense counsel, juries, and courtroom and correctional personnel. The death penalty is the most controversial practice in the United States. There is an effective alternative to burning the life out of human beings in the name of public safety. Several states also authorize capital punishment for the non-lethal offenses of drug trafficking, hijacking, treason, and sexual assault. However in 1999 all persons under sentence of death in the United States had been convicted of some form of murder. Thus, although about half of all murder victims in the United States nonwhites, 80 percent of all death sentences are imposed for the murders of whites. The United States on the other hand has increased its death penalty cases. The alternative is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Florida leads them all, with a single execution costing taxpayers a whopping 3. Executions gives society the unmistakable message that human life no longer deserves respect when it is useful to take it that homicide is legitimate when deemed justified by pragmatic concerns (Bedau). However, the number of death sentences far exceeds the number of executions. The long paper trails involved in trying and appealing are not only time consuming, but also costly (Bedau). In 2002 about 3,700 prisoners were under death sentence in the United States(Potter). It unduly burdens the system of criminal justice, and it is therefore counterproductive as an instrument for society's control of violent crime (Bedau).
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Acceptance Essays
