Preview

Argument Essay: Is the Death Penalty Effective?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
542 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Argument Essay: Is the Death Penalty Effective?
Argument Essay: Is the death penalty effective?

Why should someone who killed an innocent person deserve to keep his or her life and get the possibility of parole, and living, when that other person had to die for no reason? I believe the death penalty is very effective, and is a good way to make the criminal fear the consequences of his or her actions. Deserved punishment protects society morally by restoring order, and making the criminal pay a price equivalent to the harm that he or she has done. It serves as a simple reminder to the public that crime does not get rewarded, and the killer will never again have the chance to kill. The death penalty gives closure to the victims of families who have endured the tragedy that many of us fear the most. When someone is executed who killed a family member, vengeance is a part of the emotions that everyone feels. Families of murder victims would get a sense of closure knowing the person who took the life of their loved one would not be afforded the same opportunity again. The void they had for so long would seem to be filled. When the perpetrator is finally put to death, it is somewhat a personal revenge in my mind; most people just want to see the person suffer like the victim did. Our justice system always shows more sympathy for criminals rather than victims, when criminals on death row have more than likely committed many crimes, and should be put to death. It also creates another form of crime deterrent. Crime would be out of control if there wasn't some way to stop people from committing the acts that they do. Televised executions actually deter crime even more because people often react more to what they see rather than what they imagine. People fear nothing more than death. If somebody knows he or she is risking death for committing a crime, he or she may think twice before doing so. It provides a deterrent for prisoners already serving a life sentence. Many prisoners still kill in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The death penalty is an extremely vital way of the criminal justice system. The punishment of death can help decrease crime rates. Also, this way of death can lessen the amount of criminals and give families closure. It gives closure because, the families now know that this person will never be able to hurt them or anyone else ever again. The death penalty is a very good way to end many troubles within the U.S.…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some people might agree with the death penalty. Families get devastated when someone they love and care about has died. Its different when that person they care so much about has been murdered or killed. People tend to hate that person and have the urge to do just about anything to them in order for them to suffer, which causes us to take, revenge on them. This matter has lead to the death penalty. This is a punishment that slowly kills the man or woman that has committed the crime. Why should we have pity on those who choose to kill? If they felt powerful enough to kill, then we should be able to do the same to them. Whatever their reason is that they choose to kill they should be punished someway, somehow.…

    • 288 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    ACC/290 team paper

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The death penalty is set in place to punish individuals for the most violent crimes. Its purpose to keep the death penalty legal was to deter people from doing these horrible crimes. That attempt has failed terribly. According to a report conducted by the National Research Council, it was said that we could not depend on the death penalty to deter the effect of murder rates. “Claiming that the death penalty has a deterrent effect on murder rates are fundamentally flawed and should not be used when making policy decisions” (Radelet & Locock, 2012).…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Historically there is no clear evidence that the death penalty has decreased the murder rate or acted as an effective deterrent to murder. Capital punishment is a violation of natural rights. This is wrong for everyone who is involved: The prosecuted innocent, the criminals, the victim’s family and our nation. The death penalty does not guarantee safety for the innocent. Nothing good comes out of hate, and nothing good can ever come from capital punishment.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another benefit of the death penalty is that it decreases crime. A study was done in states where the death penalty was enacted and for every execution, 14 people are deterred from committing a murder each year (Muhlhausen). When criminals see the high form of punishment murders receive, they are fearful of what consequences they would face if they performed a similar violent crime.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death penalty is the punish meant of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime and there are twenty-two countries in the world that still impose the death penalty for capital crimes, the United states is one of them. If you are charged with capital homicide, and the jury of twelve of your peers proclaims, “We find the defendant guilty as charged”(Condenaststore). Then it is simple, you are going to forfeit your life, so abolishing the death penalty or there’s no coming back from the grave.…

    • 329 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Steve Earle is just one of the many protesters of the death penalty, stating “. . . The death penalty is based on the idea that this is a democracy, and in a democracy the government is me, and if the government kills somebody then I am killing somebody.” His quote is one of many negative views people have on the death penalty. The death penalty is based around the idea that it is acceptable to execute someone for killing. However, this is disagreed on by many Americans. In a survey from the PEW Research Center, results show that 56% of Americans still support the death penalty, compared to the 62% in 2011, and the 78% in the 1996 survey. The percent of people that still support the death penalty is at an all-time low, and is drastically dropping. This is an almost surefire indication that shows society wants the death penalty to be abolished. Although the death penalty is still an option in some states, it should be discontinued because of the immorality of execution, the staggering costs, and the potential injustices such as false execution.…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The death penalty should still be used for the simple fact of the famous quote in the bible “An eye for and eye”. It is known that when someone kills someone or either steals they get what they have coming for them, but there are other ways to settle this that helps and seems right for everyone. Like if it something minor happens it does not have to go straight into severe punishment. There are even more ways to do something that makes everyone happy, they just have to compromise and figure it…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For instance, it is unfair to the criminals in which the evidence against them is weak and in which it was an accident. Executing a person who could possibly be innocent is morally wrong and inhumane. I believe that for the criminals to die in such a public and painful way is cruel and unusual. It is not an effective way of handing out justice. The death penalty can also keep the victim’s families stuck in an angry stage of grief. Moreover, the death penalty might bring the opposite of what survivors of crime most need; accountability, healing and closure. Those criminals have family and loved ones too. Some of them even have a wife and children, why should they suffer by seeing or knowing that their loved one is being sentenced to death?…

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A sixteen- year-old is prosecuted in adult court and is given the life sentence without any chance at parole. He doesn’t understand what is happening. His brain isn’t developed like any adults, nor does her comprehend the court surroundings. He is practically a victim to the justice system as he is being treated the same as a thirty-year-old criminal. Any offender under the age of twenty-one should be separated from adults in the justice system.…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Capital punishment, otherwise known as the death penalty, has been effective tool in our country’s justice system since its inception. When an inmate is given this, the harshest sentence available, it is always with just cause. Capital Punishment is an important tool in our criminal justice system today and there are several reasons it should remain in effect.…

    • 1275 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    According to Forbes, the top ten most dangerous cities in the United States as of 2014,…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death Penalty

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Not only does the death penalty take care of murderers, but it also “…gives closure to the victim’s families who have suffered so much. (Messerli)” After the murderer has been executed, the victim’s family will feel a since of relief even though it did not bring their loved one back; they will feel better that the murderer will not be able to inflict pain and suffering on anyone else.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    die because they murdered someone that's why we have the life sentence or high security prisons. I don’t understand why the government should have decision on who should live and who shall perish . It's a very unusual and cruel punishment and the United States should retire using it.…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pro Death Penalty - Essay

    • 1140 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Getting rid of the death penalty will cause great turmoil to all and to the legal system. But first let’s go back just forty years ago to the Charlie Manson cases. This was a time known for protest, war, Murder and drugs. During this time a few major arguments came up that are still debated today including the abortion case of Roe vs. Wade, the gay rights movement and the idea of abolishing capitol punishment. Now in the case of Charles Manson, a failing cult leader trying to start a “race war”, there were nine innocent people killed. But Charlie was not the only one in this cult massacre. One main person involved was Susan Atkins an intelligent woman twisted by the ideas of Manson. She stabbed Sharon Tate, a pregnant actress, sixteen times, Sharon begged for mercy and Susan Atkins told her “there would be no compassion for her or her unborn baby”, and after tasting the victim's blood she used the blood to write the word "pig" on the front door and left. After she admitted to stabbing the pregnant actress in her 1971 court trial, she was sentenced to the death penalty. BUT due to the Supreme Court decision in 1972 of abolishing the death penalty, Atkins was now in prison for life with POSSIBLE PAROLE! She is now on the brink of death and has cost the state of California over 1.4 million dollars alone in medical cost! That’s doesn’t even include the 3.5 million dollars it has took to care for her in prison for almost forty years! In total, this adds up to 5 million dollars The cost to keep the death penalty in California is ninety million dollars. Right now California has 3,300 people in for a life sentence, this only adds up to the seventy five million dollars right now. But riddle me this with crime rates only moving up in these financially bad times do you want to run the risk of putting more in life in jail? The costs here say. If we add one hundred people a year to the life in prison list it will only take seven years for the price of life penalties to be…

    • 1140 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays