Death penalty Essay -- essays research papers

I believe that capital punishment has its benefits and can prevent murders when used and understood correctly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The death penalty given to people judged to have committed extremely heinous crimes such as murder has been a practice since before the beginning of Christianity. Since the 1800s most executions have resulted from convictions for murder. The United States is the only Western industrialized nation that still proceeds in capital punishment. War crimes, spying and murder are the only three offenses that have the possible penalty of the death sentence. In recent years, capital punishment has become a very controversial issue in the United States and other countries.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Opposition to the death penalty says that states that have capital punishment have a very high crime rate. What they do not take into consideration is that all the states are different and have different populations, different numbers of major cities, and different crime rates. There is currently no capital punishment in Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. --Almost all have lower populations and a low crime rate. In otherwords, the states that have capital punishment have it because of the high crime rates, not the other way around.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Studies have shown that capital punishment deters murders. In 1985, a study published by economist Stephen K. Layson at the University of North Carolina showed that every execution of a murderer deters, on average, 18 murders. The study also showed that raising the number of death sentences by one percent could prevent 105 murders. It does not seem fair to me that a murderer can live while innocent people are dying, especially when it can be prevented.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Violent crimes are capable of being deterred by lethal consequences for their actions if only on a sub-conscience level. If the death penalty were just as consistent, lethal, and as unstoppable as the AIDS virus, criminals would have reason to back down. Following on from that, is the fact that abolitionists may claim that most studies show that the death penalty has no effect on the murder rate at all. That is only because those studies have focused on inconsistent executions. Capital punishment like all oth... ...penalty is not cruel or unusual, and is a Constitutionally accepted remedy for a criminal act. In Trop v. Dulles, Chief Justice Eark Warren, no friend of the death penalty said, â€Å"Whatever the arguments may be against capital punishment, both on moral grounds and on grounds and in terms of accomplishing the purpose of punishment†¦ the death penalty has been employed throughout our history, and in a day when it is still widely accepted, it cannot be said to violate the concept of cruelty.† So the constitution does allow capital punishment.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As for the penal system accidentally executing an innocent person, that is a problem with the court system not capital punishment. It is up to the jury and judge in a murder case to decide whether or not a person is guilty or innocent, and if the murderer should be put to death.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  So capital punishment is very capable of deterring murder if we allow it to, but the legal system is so slow and inefficient, criminals are able to stay several steps ahead of us and gain leeway through our lenience. Several reforms must be made in the justice system so the death penalty can cause positive effect.