An Argument For Capital Punishment
Insalaco 1
Jared Insalaco
Mrs. Smith
English 11
4 April, 2015
An Argument for Capital Punishment
Capital punishment has been around since the beginning of history. It can be dated all the way back to a part of Hammurabi 's code, one of the earliest records of written law, that states: “If any one steals the minor son of another, he shall be put to death” (EAWC Anthology). That is just one instance of capital punishment, but there are many more. Almost all ancient civilizations had some form of capital punishment. It is only recently that people are going away from the old practice. Today, according to Wikipedia, thirtysix independent countries, eighteen percent, that are either UN members or have UN observer status still practice the death penalty
. That number jumps up to seventytwo for countries that still have capital punishment for some crime
(
Wikipedia contributors). The United States falls in the first group, and because of their continued practice a debate has sprung up on whether they should abolish it. There is a growing support to abolish the practice, but based on moral arguments, that will be expounded later, the United States should keep the death penalty.
The people who are against the death penalty say that capital punishment is just "legalized murder." Following the same logic, would not fines be legalized stealing because the government is taking money from people, and would not imprisonment be legalized kidnapping? There is a difference between the punishment of a crime and the crime itself. Ernest Van Den Haag, a professor of criminal justice at Suny, Albany, and also the author of
Punishing Criminal s, wrote an article about capital punishment in the newspaper,
The National Review
. In his article he said, “The difference between crimes and lawful acts, including punishments, is not physical, but legal” (Van Den Haag). The people of the United States give authority to the government to do certain things
Jared Insalaco
Mrs. Smith
English 11
4 April, 2015
An Argument for Capital Punishment
Capital punishment has been around since the beginning of history. It can be dated all the way back to a part of Hammurabi 's code, one of the earliest records of written law, that states: “If any one steals the minor son of another, he shall be put to death” (EAWC Anthology). That is just one instance of capital punishment, but there are many more. Almost all ancient civilizations had some form of capital punishment. It is only recently that people are going away from the old practice. Today, according to Wikipedia, thirtysix independent countries, eighteen percent, that are either UN members or have UN observer status still practice the death penalty
. That number jumps up to seventytwo for countries that still have capital punishment for some crime
(
Wikipedia contributors). The United States falls in the first group, and because of their continued practice a debate has sprung up on whether they should abolish it. There is a growing support to abolish the practice, but based on moral arguments, that will be expounded later, the United States should keep the death penalty.
The people who are against the death penalty say that capital punishment is just "legalized murder." Following the same logic, would not fines be legalized stealing because the government is taking money from people, and would not imprisonment be legalized kidnapping? There is a difference between the punishment of a crime and the crime itself. Ernest Van Den Haag, a professor of criminal justice at Suny, Albany, and also the author of
Punishing Criminal s, wrote an article about capital punishment in the newspaper,
The National Review
. In his article he said, “The difference between crimes and lawful acts, including punishments, is not physical, but legal” (Van Den Haag). The people of the United States give authority to the government to do certain things
Cited: Van Den Haag, Ernest. "New Arguments Against Capital Punishment?." National Review 37.2 (1985): 3335. Military & Government Collection. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. "EAWC Anthology: Hammurabi 's Code of Laws." EAWC Anthology: Hammurabi 's Code of Laws. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2015. . Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 27 Apr. 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015. Kiefer, Michael. "Reporter describes Arizona execution: 2 hours, 640 gasps." azcentral. azcentral, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. Lopeze, German. "Why Oklahoma Is Using Nitrogen Gas as a Backup to Lethal Injections." Vox. Vox, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. "The Innocent and the Death Penalty." The Innocent Project. Innocent Project, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.