Capital Punishment
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human being with an intentional or criminal intent. In today's world, terrible crimes are being committed daily. Many believe that these criminals deserve one fate: death. Capital punishment, the death penalty, is the maximum sentence used in punishing people who kill another human being - and is a very controversial method of punishment. In most states, a person convicted of first degree murder has the potential to be given the death penalty. Capital punishment is a subject that can be counted upon to stir emotion and controversy into any conversation or argument. The very concept provokes a profusion of valid questions and opinions. Today's daily world of crime and violence calls for punishment of a severe nature, and many citizens argue that the punishment necessary is the death penalty. These people quote passages such as the "an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" concept from the Old Testament of the Judeo-Christian bible. Some people take the neutral position that there is no right or wrong answer, that each opinion on capital punishment is valid in its own way. Opponents of the death penalty claim that sentencing a person to death does not change the reality of the situation; the
The main argument used by death penalty supporters is that capital punishment deters murders. If criminals were allowed to get away with such a serious crime as the taking of human life, fear and chaos would rule. This is imperative for peace to be maintained. However, a more careful analysis reveals that most Americans prefer an alternative; they would oppose the death penalty if more criminals were convicted to a life sentence without parole. " They say these men and women have not grown out of a tendency toward violence and a shunning of the virtues of mercy and forgiveness, in addition to morality. This is assuming that life imprisonment costs are more than those of when the death penalty is an issue. Both the issues of innocence and racism are prevalent when the death penalty is at hand. In the court of law, time is money, and a capital punishment is inevitably going to be much longer, not to mention the chance of an appeal will go much higher. " Some radical death penalty opposers even go so far as to claim that those who support such punishment with the excuse of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" are like immature children who continue to insist on the principle of childish payback and petty revenge. Criminals no doubt need to be punished, but severity of punishment should have its limits, beginning with the use of human dignity. A 1993 study of the costs of a state's capital punishment system revealed that litigating a murder case from beginning to end is $163,000 more than what it would take to keep the offender in federal prison for twenty years. Interrogated by the police, they were told, "One of you is going to hang for this. A survey of criminologists from the American Society of Criminology, The Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, and also The Law and Society Association proved that an overwhelming majority of experts did not believe that the death penalty is a deterrent to murders. The problems associated with this controversial form of punishment are uncountable -- morality, innocence, money, unjustified retribution, racism -- and cannot be resolved without the abolition of such punishment.
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