Capital Punishment the Issue of Term Paper

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What happens at this point is the issues are then prioritized, and the death penalty can potentially be considered less important than personal taxes, abortion, or whatever other issue the voter deems as important. This results in an extremely clouded concept of what the majority of the population actually supports in this country -- not just on the death penalty, but any issue. Ultimately this point of this argument, though not invalid in a humanistic point-of-view, is invalid because of its lack of solid, empirical ground to stand on. In fact, it is in danger of being ignored all together if we are to take a macrocosmic view of the country in terms of the constitution and the freedoms from religious policy that we enjoy. Of course if we take this point-of-view then we have to ask how we come to any decisions about our laws at all if not based on moral judgment. As can be seen by this, this point could go in circles for many more centuries.

The idea of retribution is equally as difficult to fairly analyze. Is an "eye for an eye" policy the best policy to exact the most powerful amount of retribution on a criminal? Is the death penalty, in fact, even an "eye for an eye" policy? Many of the victims of those who are punished with the death penalty are killed in a gruesome, terrifying manner. These individual suffer extreme amounts of both physical pain and psychological stress. With this in mind, can it fairly be said that criminals who are essentially put to sleep in a peaceful, low stress atmosphere treated in the same manner as those that they executed (Trollinger 88)? Suffering a lifetime in incarceration with the removal of all civil liberties might be considered a much more of equal punishment for these criminals, but even this idea can be disputed by pointing out how lush and pleasant many prisons have become, and how the fight for prisoner's rights has made incarceration more of a vacation than a punishment (Trollinger 89).

Seeing as the arguments based on morality and human rights lead to circular discussions with both sides having equally valid points, a decision on whether to support or fight the death penalty should logically be based on the arguments that it is not an effective deterrent to violent crime and is ultimately more of a financial burden on taxpayers than lifetime incarceration.

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These two arguments provide a strong, sound foundation to support the opinion that the death penalty should be abolished, not only in this country, but around the world. Regardless of how one feels about the ethicalness of killing another human being, or what one's religion states as appropriate punishment for a violent murder, the logic behind retaining a legal policy and carrying out a punishment that clearly does not have the effect it is supposed to have on the general population seems preposterous. This idea is even more ridiculous when viewed within the context of how extreme and final the end product is. Death is not reversible, it's not cheap, and it's clearly not working, so the death penalty should be completely abolished.

Cannon, Carl. "The Problem with the Chair -- A Conservative Case Against Capital

Punishment." National Review 19 June 2000.

Dieter, Richard. Cost of the Death Penalty and Related Issues. New York State

Assembly: Standing Committees on Codes, Judiciary and Correction. 25 Jan. 2005.

Elliot, Vicky. "The American Exception -- Capital Punishment." UNESCO Courier Oct.

Goertzel, Ted. "Captial Punishment and Homicide: Sociological Realities and Econometric Illusions: Does Exciting Murderers Cut the Homicide Rate or Not?

Comparative Studies Show There is No Effect. Econometric Models, In Contrast, Show a Mixture of Results. Why the Difference? And Which is the More Reliable Method?" Skeptical Inquirer Jul.-Aug. 2004.

Trollinger, William. "My Friend's Execution -- Witnessing an Execution Confirms

Feelings About Capital Punishment." Christian Century 11 Nov. 1998. A strong telling of the….....

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