Capital Punishment
Capital punishment is a very controversial topic because of all the different
perspectives it could be viewed by. Over 4,000 prisoners in the United States
have been executed between 1930 and 1989. It does not seem like the best way
to detter violent crimes and the courts should decide on alternative methods of
punishment for serious types of offences.
Politically it may seem like the right thing to do for various reasons
including overcrowding of the jails; the system in the US is steadily increasing in
population and the number of people that go through it. So as an effective
solution to this problem, capital punishment may seem fitting. Another reason
may be as a show of great authority on the government's behalf. They try to
show other potential murderers what will happen to them if they commit a similar
crime. This is not the way to do it though. Murder is defined as the killing of an
individual intentionally and unlawfully. With every murder there is a trigger that
provoked an uncontrollable anger in the aggressor. Capital punishment therefore
is also murder. The murder of the convict is allowed because what he did
aggrevated society. On this standpoint it does not seem that justice is being
From a moral standpoint, using a violent method of punishment to deter
violent crimes doesn't seem to fit properly. It is the same as reprimanding a child
who hit someone by giving him/her a smack in the mouth. This teaches the child
and the rest of the observers that hitting is ok when they are older. They don't
much as a punishment but as a display of power. This is a very dangerous thing
to teach young children if used improperly. And there are times when parents
sometimes punish the wrong child for something they did not even do. Capit
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