Capital Punishment 2

A detailed Summary of Capital Punishment 2

Since man has been around, the death penalty has been used as a way to deter crimes and as a way to punish those who choose to commit a crime deemed by their legal system or leader as punishable by death. In recent years a moral dispute has been raging over whether capital punishment should be used to punish criminals. Some would argue that we do not have the right to take another person's life, regardless of the crime they commit (Sanders 1). Others take the position that the punishment should fit the crime, and in the case of murder, capital punishment is the only option that is just. Justice demands a punishment as severe as the crimes committed. Capital punishment is perfectly legal, and therefore not a crime, and therefore should be a suitable punishment for convicted murderers (Labbe 1, 6). Considering all of the heinous crimes criminals commit, we cannot just ask for, but must demand, the ultimate punishment for murder.

Opponents of the death penalty feel that the state has no right to take the lives of these criminals, no matter how horrible or devastating the crime they commit. Some say it is a horrible, arbitrary, cruel, and immoral act that no one should allow in today's sophisticated society. As Anton Chekhov

stated in his story, "The Bet," "The state is not God. It has no right to take away that which it cannot give back, if it should so desire" (Sanders 1). In addition, some feel the death penalty is wrong for religious reasons. A major belief of many religions is that, it is a sin to kill, and killing someone who has already murdered another person does not make things right. Another viewpoint brings up the fact that people are able to change and therefore should be rehabilitated instead of having their life taken away by the whim of a judge (Sanders 1, 6). Often the death penalty can be racially influenced and, therefore, unfair. Between 1977 and 1998, approximately 82 percent of those executed were convicted of killing a white person, even though evidence shows that the number of black and white homicide victims is approximately equal (Elliott 39). In addition opponents of the death penalty say that each person has a right to live and that no one should be able to take that away. Plus, the death penalty is final and if the convicted person is later found to be innocent, there is no way to correct the mistake. There have been many cases where people have been convicted of murder but were proven innocent minutes before they were scheduled to die. However, approximately 23 people were not as lucky and actually did die, because their innocence was discovered too late (Sanders 6). Finally, the death penalty could be considered just state-sanctioned murder (Sanders 1). From this point of view we are just stooping to their level, and continuing this chain of death makes us no better than them. Hence, the feelings of opponents of the death penalty are very strong, stating how morally reprehensible this conduct is. However, these reasons are still not enough to allow these murderers to go without proper justice being served.

Further proof of the necessity to maintain capital punishment is that justice must be served for those who choose to break the laws set by the country. The main job of this country and each state is to protect the citizens within whether from outside forces or even from its own citizens (Labbe 6). In the Bible, it states that it is the duty of the leaders to protect its citizens in order for the society to grow and exist. There has to be an ultimate puni

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Approximate Word count = 1550
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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