The Death Penalty Essay - 1262 Words

The death penalty is currently used by 34 states and is used by the federal government for punishing federal crimes. And in most cases the death penalty is used when the criminal has been convicted of murder. However, two people have been sentenced to death for the rape of a minor. The definition of the death penalty is: execution of an offender sentenced to death after conviction by a court of law of a criminal offense. This begs the question does the government have the right to take away someone’s life? And if so is it ethical and moral? Overall the goal of the Criminal Justice system is to give the right sentence and protect the people. Even though the death penalty does this, there are better more efficient ways to accomplish that†¦show more content†¦This is also known as an eye for an eye punishment. Although I agree that the criminal deserves rash punishment morale and ethical values come into play. Another great saying is two wrongs don’t make a right. The idea of punishing violence with violence essentially condones the use of violence. This has not yet been definitively determined but the fact that the government utilizes violence in a sense condones the use of it. At the very least, it may make it seem that vigilante justice is acceptable. So this doesn’t necessarily mean society is safer because it is not yet definitely decided that the punishment deters crime. Furthermore, the money that the punishment wastes could be used to make the community safer. As a result, the penalty has an adverse effect on public safety. A good example is the south has the most executions by far, and they also have the highest murder rate. So maybe if the government spent more money on making school systems better and making sure kids stay on the right track and don’t get involved in crime they would have to worry less about giving the death penalty. And therefore getting rid of the death penalty would be an easy decision. Along with the Moral and Ethical problems the death penalty has monetary problems too. The cost of housing inmates on death row and the extra cost of appeals results in a total extra cost of 65 million dollars a year. All of that money is being wasted on a criminal who isn’t even worth the time to kill him. IfShow MoreRelatedThe Death Penalty Is Justified1143 Words   |  5 PagesAllison Shu 2/25/16 Period 2 Objective paper on the death penalty Capital punishment is legally authorized killing as punishment for a crime. The death penalty questions the morality of killing a person as justification for their crime. It also brings to question whether the death penalty actually serves as a deterrent for crime, and that some of the people executed are found innocent afterwards. The debates over the constitutionality of the death penalty and whether capital punishment should be usedRead MoreThe Death Penalty For Juveniles946 Words   |  4 Pages The death penalty for minors differs greatly from the death penalty for adult. The law that minor could be put on death row was decided to rule against the eighth amendment. The eighth amendment prohibits the act of â€Å"cruel and unusual punishment† which putting minors on death row breaks. On March 4, 2005 the law that minors could not be put on death row for their actions was set into place. The new laws say, â€Å"They cannot punish a minor by death penalty and they cannot punish someone for a crimeRead MorePro Death Penalty Speech1482 Words   |  6 Pagesintroduce myself before we get started. My name is Slick Perry and if you didn’t already know, I am the state governor of Texas. You are all aware that we are reviewing our recidivism rate to various crimes and reviewing our stance regarding the death penalty as we approach 2009. Everyone here understands that capital punishment is a very controversial topic in the United States. In Texas, from December 1982 through August 2008, only 361 criminals of the millions of Texans in our good state were executedRead MoreShould The Death Penalty Be Mandatory?925 Words   |  4 Pagesopinions on the subject. When we were discussing the death penalty although my opinion didn’t change, after hearing what some of my classmates had to say about the subject during our lab I was able to respectfully see why they had those thoughts and feelings about the subject. I believe that we should have the death penalty, and that it helps prevents more crime from happening. However, during our lab students that thought we should ban the death penalty had some pretty interesting reasons behind theirRead MoreThe Truth About The Death Penalty973 Words   |  4 Pages In her article â€Å"The Truth About The Death Penalty†, Carina Kolodny argues that the death penalty should be abolished in all fifty states due to the fact that it is ineffective and very expensive. Kolodny believes that capital punishment has too many complications and variables that cause it be more of an issue than a real solution for capital offenses. She proposes that the death penalty should be dropped and exchanged for better programs such as Proposition 34, which replaces capital punishmentRead MoreThe Death Penalty Should Be Legal1805 Words   |  8 Pagesthat we all know is the death penalty. This penalty has been going around for years. To many people it might be the best way of punishing a person. On the other hand there are people who think that if you kill a person you should be sentenced to die as well. For me I would say it might not be the best way and it not working as many would like it. When choosing if you are for the death penalty you have to okay with an insect person dyeing or even a family member being in death row. I know that is somethingRead MoreThe Death Penalty : An Effective Reliable Tool904 Words   |  4 Pagesthe death penalty has been a frequent topic of discussion, as our recent technological advancements have evidently led individuals to consider the â€Å"new found† legitimacy of our court systems, as statistics display that our previous racial bias and the apparent morality of the practice itself have a miniscule impact on our conviction rate. Both the advancements and ethics that the death penalty provides become apparent through the utilization of anecdotes and statistics, as the death penalty has prevailedRead MoreThe Bible and Death Penalty Essay example812 Words   |  4 Pagesa person’s view of the Bible influence what they think about the death penalty for murderers.† I would like to see if a person’s view of the bible influence what they think of the death penalty. This is interesting to me because I am interested in the field of criminal justice and the death penalty is a huge topic to this day. There are many journals that talk about studies that were done on religion and views of the death penalty which have to do with my topic of interest. My hypothesis is thatRead More The Death Penalty Is Archaic and Immoral Essays559 Words   |  3 Pages The death penalty is simply a modernized version of the Holy Bible’s â€Å"an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot†. Some argue that death is a necessary retribution for murderous cases - but is it effective morally? Revenge only glorifies violence, which is most definitely not the message the world strives to display. The death penalty is a negative form of punishment and insinuates a harsh reflection of society economically, politically, and socially. Read MoreEssay on Death Penalty - Herrera vs Collins1337 Words   |  6 PagesDeath Penalty - Herrera vs Collins The Supreme Court addressed the constitutionality of executing someone who claimed actual innocence in Herrera v. Collins (506 U.S. 390 (1993)). Although the Court left open the possibility that the Constitution bars the execution of someone who conclusively demonstrates that he or she is actually innocent, the Court noted that such cases would be very rare. The Court held that, in the absence of other constitutional violations, new evidence of innocence is no