The Debate Over the Morality of the Death Penalty Essay

Why is the death penalty used as a means of punishment for crime? Is this just a way to solve the nations growing problem of overcrowded prisons, or is justice really being served? Why do some view the taking of a life morally correct? These questions are discussed and debated upon in every state and national legislature throughout the country. Advantages and disadvantages for the death penalty exist, and many members of the United States, and individual State governments, have differing opinions. Yet it seems that the stronger arguments, and evidence such as cost effectiveness, should lead the common citizen to the opposition of Capital Punishment.

Thousands of people will attack the death penalty. They will give emotional speeches about the one innocent man or woman who might accidentally get an execution sentence. However, all of these people are forgetting one crucial element. They are forgetting the thousands of victims who die every year by the hands of heartless murderers. There are more murderers out there than people who are wrongly convicted, and that is what we must remember.

The question of ethical behavior is an age-old conundrum. The prevailing issue with ethics is that it is extremely difficult to measure. A person’s moral fabric is largely based on their particular personality traits, as well as, their psychological state and environmental influences. Many believe that ethics are tied to a person’s conscience, and that good morals are often facilitated by a strong religious background. Furthermore, a person’s moral development can be linked to their economic situation and cultural differences. Interestingly, even while examining the status of one’s moral code is challenging; everyone seems to have their own unique array of ethics.

The death penalty is a topic that has been around for years that deals with ethics, a set of moral principles or values. This issue has been constantly filled with people’s emotions, attitudes, and their beliefs from all walks of life. There are people in favor of the death penalty while others will argue against it. No matter how the world changes there will never be a final argument or resolution to the understanding, acknowledgement, or ending to the rights or wrongs of the death penalty.

We have all heard the saying “eye for an eye,” and many people think it should be equivocated with capital punishment too. If a person murders someone else, or commits a gross injustice, why not execute the murderer as well? “Simply putting someone in jail does not compare to taking someone’s life” (Carmical). If a murderer goes to jail the then prisoner gets 3 free meals a day, recreational time, A/C, television, housing, etc. The punishment does not fit the crime. They may not have a lot of freedom, but they have their lives. “In fact, it is morally wrong not to execute a murderer because [all] punishment [should] fit the crime” (Carmical). However, some people think differently about the death penalty.

The death penalty is one of the most controversial arguments in this era as it determines the ultimatum of life or death. While it remains legal in a majority of states in America, it is debatable based around the aspects of morality, practical grounds, and cost efficiency. At the same time many believe that it is an effective way of eliminating crime in society as it has been this way since people began hanging colonist for witchcraft. Former governor of New York, Mario Cuomo, who has studied the death penalty more than half his life, argues the negative effect the death penalty tolls on our morality as it “lowers us all” as human beings and only reflects the meaning of our life as hatred. American political writer and panelist on a CNN political

The issue of capital punishment is one that has been in discussion for many years. How can anyone control the life of another human being? The accused may have taken the life of another citizen but what gives anyone the right to take his. This is the main point of the question but it gets vastly more complicated as the issue is further investigated. For instance, the psychopath who goes on a murderous rampage might have an abnormality with the frontal lobe of the cortex in his brain. Now, if this is the case this person may not be able to control his murderous impulses. So, should this person be punished, and not only should he or she be punished but should the punishment be done for retribution? After all, most punishment is based

“The issue moved onto a front burner in July 1997 when Dieter's group published a report claiming that 69 innocent persons had been freed from death rows since the reinstitution of capital punishment in the United States in 1976.” (Jost) The death penalty can be faulty. Some also say that there’s no point in putting someone to death. Revenge, anger and hate will never cure the sadness of a lost loved one. They believe that it doesn’t change the fact that crime the suspect committed can never be fixed. What’s done is done, and it can’t be taken back. Also different types of people like the mentally ill or juveniles get treated differently when it comes to the death penalty. Sick people and children should not be executed. The death penalty applies differently towards different people; For Example the United States has executed more juvenile offenders -- 160 -- than any nation since 1973. (Cooper) Most who agree with capital punishment follow the old Bible teaching, “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life.” Support for the capital punishment is strong in the U.S. “64% express support for the death penalty” (McCarthy) according to the recent Gallup Poll. People believe that anyone who takes another’s life away deserves to have their life taken. Many believe that the system serves as a form of justice allowing suspect to “get what they deserve.” Many people think that the families of the victims should be able to see the murderer suffer just as their loved ones

Try to imagine a relative sitting in a dark, cold, and tight prison cell and knowing minutes later that death would come for them through lethal injection. What if their case wasn't handled correctly, what if evidence was mishandled, and possibly an innocent person is going to die. Imagine the family who has been waiting years for justice to be served by the means of lethal injection. There is two sides to every story either way both families will grieve or already is. According to Death Penalty Information Center (2011), since 1976 the United States of America has executed 1,243 individuals who have been convicted of a serious crime. The death penalty has been used since the Eighteenth Century B.C. to present

Most people in the United States believe we should have the death penalty. They believe that the death penalty keeps people from committing crimes. Most of these people today think that people will get scared of being executed by gas or needle and that they won’t commit real bad crimes. A lot of other people believe that it is just plain wrong to kill someone and no one should be killed for any reason even murder and rape and so they are against the death penalty. I will talk to you about these problems with the death penalty in my paper. Everyone should ask themselves what they believe. Do you believe that by killing people using the death it will save lives. The death penalty is called capital punishment. You get sentenced with

Imagine that someone you love or someone very close to you is a victim of a very serious crime, a crime so serious that the person who committed it is now sitting on death row with limited time left to live. How do you think you would feel? Would you be thinking that they deserved to die? Or would you be hoping that evidence would come to light to show them innocent or, even though the crime was horrific would you think they don’t deserve to be punished by death? Would you want to watch the person die at the hands of the law to ensure justice has been served or would you rather they spend the rest of their life in prison as punishment? When violent crime affects you personally it can make the death penalty look like a good option. The

The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment, and violates the right to life. It's hard for me as a Swede to understand that a country such as USA still have that kind of punishment. For many people and nations the USA serves as a model, so it is to me very difficult to imagine how you can persuade nations like Burma and China to respect basic human rights when you don't do it yourself.

When one thinks about the death penalty, they usually think of capital punishment, which is punishment by death as well as a practice by the government of killing people as punishment for serious crimes. Capital punishment has been used in the United States since 1775 when all thirteen colonies were at the outbreak of the American Revolution. It was not until 1787 that the founding fathers allowed the death penalty when writing the constitution. In 1790 United States Congress established a Federal Death Penalty, which was also called the Crimes Act of 1790, that created six capital offenses, treason, counterfeiting, three variations of piracy or felonies on the high seas, and aiding the escape of a capital prisoner, also in that same year the first person was executed under the United States Federal Death Penalty for committing “murder on the high seas”. The end of the 1700s, brought reform for the death penalty laws, like in 1793 the concept of varying degrees of murder was introduced, which softens the death penalty laws.

When committing a rape, murder, or treason does it occur to you that, if Caught, you could be, electrocuted, gassed, or lethally injected? I highly doubt it. So what is it that is running through your mind? Do you honestly think you can murder or rape some innocent person and get away with it? I don’t think so. I feel the death penalty is a great concept. My philosophy is, why should someone that murdered an innocent human being still be able to breathe, while his or her victim cannot? Life without parole is a good idea, but that person is still getting the chance to breathe, eat, sleep, smell, hear, and see while his or her victim cannot. Many people see capital punishment as cruel and wrong, but is not what that person did cruel

The ultimate punishment of the death penalty has long been advocated in the light of its ability to deter future capital crimes and its ability to bring closure and retribution to those who were directly affected by it. Many advocates for the death penalty have always used deterrence and retribution as their salient topics but deterrence and retribution are starting to lose their efficacy. The population of death row has dropped every year for 13 consecutive years, from 2000-2013, and only 16% of the people on death row have been executed since 1973 (Snell, 2013). Eighteen states have abolished the death penalty and the remaining 32 states have reduced their practices of the death penalty, given this 13 consecutive year drop rate of death row inmates (Death Penalty Info, 2015).