Research Paper on Capital Punishment
Throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries there has been a radial rise in the use of capital punishment followed by a peak in the early twentieth century, this is a trend toward more executions in recent years. People today disagree with capital punishment for many different reasons. Some of the more common reasons are things such as; you cannot prevent murder by engaging in killing capital punishment reinforces the idea that violence solves problems, and finally killing anyone for any reason is just wrong.
I however disagree with these opinions on the matter. I not only agree with capital punishment, but feel that is should be used more often and gal in all fifty stated throughout America. By enforcing capital punishment on a much swifter and common ground it would cause a ripple effect of great proportions. First of all it would help with the overcrowding of Americas prison systems.
Next it would free up millions if not billions of tax payers dollars that are currently being used to house these violent criminals for the rest of their life. Finally, it would bring the families who are morning the loss of a loved one(s) some peace that the people who have committed such violent and hyenas crimes will never be able to harm anyone else ever again. The million dollar question that comes to everyone’s mind when capital punishment is being discussed is; does capital punishment actually deter crime?
Recent studies published in the Oxford journals stated “Evidence of the deterrent effect of capital punishment is important for many states that are currently reconsidering their position on the issue?’ (alert. Supranational. Org). Recent studies have shown that capital punishment does in fact have a strong deterrent effect. After each execution there is an average of eighteen fewer murders committed with a margin of error plus or minus ten. These results are believed to not be driven by tougher sentencing laws and are resilient to many different stipulations.
These statistics are based upon the actual amount of executions that are carried out today, if only fifty percent of inmates that are currently on death row were to be executed that average of eighteen fewer murders would sky rocket into the hundreds and over time the hundreds of thousands, each one being a life that would not have to perish at the hands of another. Society views death by capital punishment differently than any other death. Death that occurs in a natural everyday manner is looked at as the end of a journey called life. To simply put it we are all going to die someday that is enviable.
However, when death occurs by capital punishment the feelings are mixed depending on whose side you are on, the victim or the criminal. The side of the victim feels that the criminal took a life away from them and the only thing that they can feel that justice has been served is the criminal should have to pay for their crime with their life. However those on the side of the criminal feel, that even though the criminal took a life that some sort f mercy should be shown, and they would all ask for their loved ones life to be spared, even if that means spending the rest of their days on earth inside of a jail cell.
Society, when neither identifies with the victim nor perpetrator, seems to base their decisions on whether or not capital punishment should be enforced by how violent the crime is and the degree of violence and vulgarity in which the crime was committed. For example if the murder is drug or gang related, even though it was pre meditated, most of society believes that the criminal’s life should be spared, however if a child is raped, ND tortured then killed that perpetrator without a doubt deserves to die.
The reaction and view towards capital punishment for the families of the accused is vastly different from any other point of view. The families of those facing execution through a sociological standpoint are in effect indirect victims of the initial crime. They too are morning the impending death off loved one, accepting the fact that there is nothing they can do to stop what is going to happen, and having to accept the fact that a loved one who they thought they knew inside and out was truly a monster capable of taking the fife of another in cold blood.
When you stop for a second and consider the burden that has been put upon the family of the accused there really is nothing more anyone can do but just pray for the accused family that someday they can pick up the pieces of life and move on. Hoping that they will never have to go through another day like the ones they have had to endure because of the actions of someone else who they love. In closing, society should be the one to decide whether or not to carry out sentences such as the death penalty. After all the decisions that were made y the criminal not only affect the victim’s family but society as a whole.
When a murder occurs it is announced to the world via multiple media streams. If the criminal is not caught and a string of murders continue to occur inside of a local radius this leads to a sense of nervousness, concern, and to an extent a sense of mild paranoia. When a criminal decides to take the life of another at that very moment they take away the right of their victims, and cause a sense of loss and sadness for the victim’s family. Therefore, in turn anyone who can commit such violent acts against another human being should not e entitled to have any rights of any other law abiding citizen facing impending death.
By allowing criminals on death row the opportunity of writing a Living Will and following through with directive gives them a sense of hope that in some twisted way they can leave behind a legacy to be read about years after they have died. Criminals of this caliber are not entitled to have a sense of having some humanity; they decided to give that up when they decided to turn from a human into a monster and play God by deciding when it was someone’s time to die.
