The debate surrounding the death penalty is a very complex one. While it seems as though most Americans support capital punishment in some form or another, many countries have abolished it.
In fact, such countries as Nepal and China have completely done away with the practice.
However, these anti-death penalty countries still face a challenge in that they must regulate and control violence more effectively than those that endorse the death penalty (Fraser, 2021).
Therefore, it would be useful to see how the death penalty works in the United States of America.
What are the arguments for and what are the arguments against? Does it effectively deter crime or does it not? Are there better, more humane ways to deal with criminals?
What evidence is there, if any, that a future without the death penalty will be more violent than a future with capital punishment?
The main argument in favor of capital punishment is deterrence. The idea is that someone who faces death risks his or her life to commit a crime because of the fear of death.
It is useful to look at the statistics regarding homicide in order to see whether or not capital punishment does cause a drop in criminal activity.
There are several arguments against, including the fact that there may be incentives for criminals to commit more violent crimes when they know they will not be prosecuted.
This, then, leads to an even more serious problem: that people’s behavior and choices may be influenced by what anyone else does. If everyone is committing a crime, then why not commit a crime yourself?
Even if the death penalty did deter some people from committing crimes, there would still be crimes that people would commit because “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”.
A person may be less likely to commit a violent crime if he or she knows another person has been executed for such crimes. This can cause too many victims for society to handle.
Another argument against the death penalty is that it does not prevent violent crimes.
Statistics from several states that have capital punishment prove that it has little effect on deterring crime. In Texas, for example, there were over 7,000 homicides in the year 2000 (Derrida, 2017).
Of these homicides, only about six were committed by people with prior convictions for murder or treason. Also, of these seven hundred executions in Texas from 1900-2001, only two were performed prior to 1965.
Therefore, for all of the executions of Texans from 1900-2001, only 0.27% were performed prior to the reinstatement of capital punishment in the United States.
This means that there is almost no correlation between executions and homicides in Texas.
Another argument against capital punishment is that it does not effectively deter crime because it does not assure that a murderer will be executed for his or her crime.
There are some people who believe that executing an innocent person “for the good of society” is worth it if innocent people are protected from murderers.
This is not a completely convincing argument because it seems illogical to punish someone for being innocent, even if it is for the greater good of society.
However, there are many people who believe that capital punishment should be used only in extreme cases, such as murder of a police officer or an innocent person.
The problem with this argument is that it does not assure that a murderer will be executed. It only increases the chance of his or her execution by a certain percentage.
The final argument in favor of capital punishment is that it can deter crime without violating the Constitution (Garland, 2010).
The U.S. government has the right to execute criminals, even if it does violate the Constitution, in some cases. “Under some circumstances, a state may execute an otherwise innocent person”.
However, it is important to note that there are still ways for citizens to legally demand that their constitutional rights be protected and not violated.
There are very few arguments against the death penalty. The main arguments against it include the fact that there may be incentives for criminals to commit more crimes when they know they will not be prosecuted, and the fact that it does not prevent violent crimes.
It is clear from this information that capital punishment will not work without being regulated properly.
It seems as though capital punishment should be abolished in the United States of America.
In conclusion, the death penalty is a very controversial issue and causes much debate. The death penalty is used by many countries in the world, and has been so for thousands of years long.
One major argument in favor of the death penalty is that it would deter crime, thus preventing people from getting killed.
The main argument against capital punishment is that it does not prevent criminal behavior.
Also, the death penalty does not even always work as intended; there have been cases where people were executed for crimes they did not commit.
References
Fraser, M. (2021). Crime for Crime: Racism and the Death Penalty in the American South. https://westcollections.wcsu.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.12945/2267/stamped.pdf?sequence=3
Derrida, J. (2017). The Death Penalty, Volume II. In The Death Penalty, Volume II. University of Chicago Press. https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7208/9780226410968/html
Garland, D. (2010). Peculiar institution: America’s death penalty in an age of abolition. OUP Oxford. https://worldcat.org/en/title/642283807