Death Penalty

The death penalty has been a very controversial subject for many American citizens for decades. To each individual, the death penalty can only mean one thing and that is the state has the right to sentence someone to death because of a murder he or she has committed. I choose to argue that the death penalty is good and should be chosen by all.

Utilitarianism means that the right action is one that maximizes utility (or pleasure) or in other words, doing an act that will result in a positive outcome for the greatest number. This ethical theory also states that the guilty should be punished only if the punishment would serve as some deterrent or preventive purpose. Our country, to some, is also known as a Utilitarian society because of the justice system our criminals go through to receive the proper punishment that will do the most good or the least harm to all those who have been or will be affected by it. Also this action guiding principle can be applied to any occasion no matter how difficult the situation can be.

The death penalty serves as a punishment just as a boy or girl gets punished for doing something wrong. In some sense, this penalty is embedded into every citizens mind to show a sever form of the most un-thinkable criminal act performed by an individual. Having this form of discipline permanatly eliminates the criminals who have disrupted the utility of our society and restores it by making the lives safer for everyone else and enforces the law to a greater extent for everyone to live by. To almost everyone, being put to death is more feared than imprisonment; therefore for the prospective murderer, it puts a barrier between thinking about the murder and actually doing it. Throughout our country, prison population has exploded and by enforcing this law, it creates more space for the individual who will be serving a life sentence. This ability to act upon this type of punishment promotes human flourishing for future generations and gives us a clear decision procedure to sentence someone to death who has committed a heinous murder.

When a very controversial topic is thrown out into the public it always has another side that will fight against it such as this one. To the people who object this ideological belief of lawful killing, they would argue that everybody, including the murderer no less then the victim, has a natural right to life; therefore nobody should be deprived of life. Deontologists would argue that the end never justifies