Death Penalty Debate
Death penalty or capital punishment is one of the most passionately, actively and persistently debated topics in American political, legal and social circles. It occupies the same place in political agenda of a new presidential candidate as abortion or gun control. Opponents of death penalty base their arguments on the "cruel and unusual punishments" clause of the Eight Amendment. They feel that the constitutional laws if studied closely provide opposition to deprivation "of life, liberty, or property without due process of law."(U.S. Const. amend. V)) Defenders of death penalty however ground their arguments in deterrence believing that if strict punishments are used, crime rate could be effectively controlled. This section also believes in retribution arguments. Justice Brennan described retribution as "[t]he asserted public belief that murderers . . . deserve to die". 1I feel that the cases in which death penalty should be granted cannot be defined in absolute terms. Therefore while I do not oppose it, I feel there should be strictly defined categories of crimes for which death penalty would be used. It may not serve as a deterrent, but it definitely serves the purpose of retribution. If a person commits a pre-meditated m
Georgia, "There are carefully contemplated murders, such as the murder for hire, where the possible penalty of death may well enter into the cold calculus that precedes the decision to act. Why should his life be spared when he took an innocent life? It would be absurd to even assume that people would allow the killers of their loved ones to not meet the same fate. But if it is found that a person killed another accidentally or was avenging someone's death caused by the victim then exceptions should be applied. Anyone in his right mind would want a criminal to suffer in exactly the same manner as his victim. It is only logical and just to expect that as Irwin Isenberg (1977) said: "I favor the death penalty as a matter of justice and human dignity even apart from deterrence. There is a significant minority that believes in its complete abandonment by the law. A much more powerful preventive than the fear of death which men always behold in distant obscurity. The penalty must be appropriate to the seriousness of the crime (p. Criminals who are a threat to society must definitely be put on the death row. We accept that every argument has weight and can be debated. Even plain logic seems to support death penalty as Professor James Q. "(Gross and Mauro:224)Proponents of death penalty believe all the opposite and do not accept many of the claims made by the other section. But those who are remorseful and seek rehabilitation should be considered for other means of punishment. Death penalty has its fair share of opponents.
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Acceptance Essays
