The moral problem surrounding the death penalty is that capital punishment violates the right to life. In the Roman Catholic Church we are supposed to love our neighbors as welove our selves. If we support the death penalty then we are not supporting every individual right to life. Which is fundamental and absolute sacred right that belongs toThe arguments for capital punishment include the following: 1) the death penalty can beUsed as a deterrent to crime. 2) If the death penalty was abolished that may increase theRate of murders. 3) The punishment should fit the crime. 4) The instinct for retribution is part of the nature of man and channeling that instinct in the administration of criminal justice serves an important purpose in promoting the stability of a society is unable to impose upon criminal offenders the punishment they deserve then there are sown the seeds of anarchy. (Social Ethics, chap. 3 pg. 110)The arguments against the death penalty include the following: based on statistics published on the Internet, amnesty international states since 1977 four hundred and forty five people have been executed thirteen as of March 19, 1998. Of the four hundred and forty five executed, twenty three were wrongfully convicted There is no credible study has yet been produced any solid scientific evidence that the death penalty deters violent crime. The penalty of death is final what if we were wrong. Imprisonment would rehabilitate the criminal.
My position is that the punishment should fit the crime. If someone commits murder theyShould be put to death. Society has become desensitized to violence with all the movies Glamorizing violence. Also the media coverage of crimes while they are occurring,Like the Columbine tragedy and following O.J. Simpson alluding police with his attempted escape. Society does not even seem to be bothered with all the violenceShown on television and in the newspaper. I dont now when this country became soIndifferent to the increase in violence. The age of violent offenders is getting younger and younger. The government needs to start holding people accountable for their actions.
We need to start setting an example that murders will not be tolerated and if someone wants to murder they need to know that is not acceptable. O.J. Simpson is a perfect example that says crime does pay. If you have enough money, you can get out of anything.
I think adopting capital punishment in all fifty states would have universal appeal. If we were to adopt The Georgia sentencing law which narrows the class of murders subject to capital punishment by specifying 10 statuary aggravating circumstance are of which must be found by the jury to exist beyond a doubt before a death sentence. If there are safeguards in place to prevent abuse I feel it would have universal appeal. Society has had enough of people getting away with murder. O.J. Simpson over exposure from immediately following the crime, to the long drawn out court trial. He basically laughedAt our justice system. This should not be acceptable. If you commit murder then be executed.
Opponents to the death penalty will disagree with my views on the death penalty. The Thorsten Sellin studies conducted in the United States during 1962, 1967, and 1980 concluded that the death penalty had no deterrent effect. The British Royal CommissionOn Capital punishment analyzed statistics from seven European and non-European countries reporting that no evidence linked abolition of the death penalty to increased homicide rates. Some researchers have found that the death penalty not only fails to reduce murder rates, but may also increase the number of homicides. (www.amnesty-usa.org).
The United States Bowers-Pierce study, analyzing executions between 1907 and 1963 concluded that an average of two additional murders were committed in the month after an execution. Also society noted that as of July 1997, approximately 3,269 men and women were imprisoned on death rows in the United States. An average of eighty percent of these inmates were black, and since murder in the United States is committed at an equal percentage among whites and black, the application of the death penalty is obviously racially biased. (WWW. Amnesty-usa.org). The biggest argument against the death penalty what if we kill an innocent person, which has occurred in the past.
The arguments against my position are numerous. While researching for information regarding the death penalty on the Internet and with my text I was unable to find statistics to support my position. There have not been any studies done to explore crime rates in the cities that have capital punishment. But if you look what is going on in the world right now are current system is ineffective. There needs to be change in how we punish criminals. Places like Singapore have really low crime rates, like when the American teenager was flogged for vandalism. I bet if you were to speak to that person today I would imagine he learned a valuable lesson. Society should not be tolerant to criminals. If a person commits murder and is found guilty he or she should be put to death. There should not be fifteen appeals in a case. If you did it and are found guilty then you should be punished. I keep referring to O.J. Simpson but he was a former wealthy black man who was obviously guilty of murder. He fled the scene and led the police on a car chase. That is not the actions of an innocent man. Essentially he was able to pay for his freedom. This is wrong wealthy people should not be able to buy their freedom when they are guilty. Society needs to reevaluate are position on the death penalty and make itLegal in all fifty states. Otherwise there will be a lot more O.J. Simpsons running around.
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