Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment

Whenever a criminal on death row is sentenced a final date, it always stirs up controversy. Those who disagree claim that the person may be innocent or that that person has learned from their lesson and can be a mentor for the next generation. Whether or not the person has been reformed, does not mean that our judicial system should lament to it. Whatever crime that person has done needs to go punished and further fear others from following down that path. "Since the society has the highest interest in preventing murder, it should use the strongest punishment available to deter murder, and that is the death penalty" (Deterrence 1). Any honest person would see their fate and accept it rather than cowardly try and get out of it. Capital punishment helps protect society from these criminals and puts fear in people to do otherwise. This act of discipline is fair and just for those who are aware of it.

To some the forms of the death penalty may disagree with the Eighth Amendment. Some would call it cruel and unusual for have used electrocution, lethal injection, firing squads, etc. But what many fail to think about is what the criminal did in the first place. Those on death row are because of murders, more than once. Their acts usually were very crude and vile. You could look up all of the inmate's history and find a disgusting case. (California Execution Procedures 1).

Those who are against it also claim that we could be sentencing innocent people. The only way you could be sentenced is when there is undeniable proof that you are at fault. They even give you unlimited appeals in where you can prove your innocence. The judicial system does not just throw anyone on death row. There are many stages in a capital case. As mentioned before, the crime is usually shocking to where the death penalty is considered. Those who commit theses crimes usually have a history of acts upon them and the police will bring it to the attention of the court. There are eight phases and within these eight phases, if the criminal cannot be assumed innocent, they are sentenced on death row.

Those who are extreme in religion will agree that the death penalty is important in society. There are many examples in The Bible