Death Penalty Just or Unjust
Death Penalty Introduction: The most severe of all sentences: that of death. Also known as the death penalty, capital punishment this is the most severe form of corporal punishment as it is requires law enforcement officers to kill the offender. ... However, some people use it on a different level, some people use it in reference to death. ... We find someone guilty of murder and sentence him to death, does that not make murderers out of ourselves? ... Those who assist in the death penalty are they not partners in crime? Is the death penalty a "Cruel and Unusual" punishment or is it now a necessary tool in the war on crime? With the increase in crime and violence in our society, how does the death penalty affect a North American family. History of the Death Penalty: Use of the death penalty has declined throughout the industrial Western World since the 19th century. In 1972, movement in America to have the death penalty declared unconstitutional during the landmark case of Furman v. Georgia, which declared the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment. ... It is believed that fear of death deters people from committing crimes. ... That if attached to certain crimes, the penalty of death exerts a positive moral influence by placing a stigma on certain crimes like manslaughter, resulting in attitudes of disgust and horror to such acts. (McCuen, 1985, 11) Studies of the deterrent effect of the death penalty have been conducted for several years, with varying results. Most of these studies have failed to produce evidence that the death penalty deterred murders more effectively then the threat of imprisonment. The reason for this is that few people are executed and so the death penalty is not a satisfactory deterrent. ... During highly publicized death penalty cases the homicide rate is found to go down but it goes back up when the case is over. (Bailey, 1994, 42) When comparisons are made between states with the death penalty and states without, the majority of death penalty states show murder rates higher than non-death penalty states. The average murder rate per 100,000 population in 1996 among death penalty states was 7.1, the average murder rate among non-death penalty states was only 3. ... A look at neighboring death penalty and non-death penalty states show similar trends. Death penalty states usually have a higher murder rate than their neighboring non-death penalty states. (See appendix b) (Death Penalty Information Center) Retribution: The second issue in the capital punishment debate is retribution. ... Supporters of the death penalty contend that the only proper response to the most vile murders is the most sever punishment possible.