Capital Punishment In The United States
Capital Punishment, legal infliction of death as a penalty for violating criminal law. Methods of execution have included such practices as crucifixion, stoning, drowning, burning at the stake, impaling, and beheading. Today capital punishment is typically accomplished by lethal gas or injection, electrocution, hanging, or shooting.
The death penalty is the most controversial penal practice in the modern world.
The United States stands apart from the general trends on capital punishment. It is the only Western industrialized nation where executions still take place. Furthermore, it is the only nation that combines frequent executions with a highly developed legal system characterized by respect for individual rights.
Some of the pros and cons are as follows:
Pros- Just Punishment-
A punishment is just if it recognizes the seriousness of the crime. …show more content…
This incapacitation effect is particularly important because of the continuing risk posed by those who have already taken a human life. For example, according to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, of 52,000 state prison inmates serving time for murder in 1984, an estimated 810 had previously been convicted of murder. Had some of these murderers been given the death penalty for their first murders, innocent people would have been spared. . Only a capital sentence can permanently end the threat to others posed by the most serious murderers.
The death penalty gives closure to the victim's families who have suffered so much.
It provides a punishment and deterrent for someone who's already sentenced to life in prison.
Prisoner parole or escapes can give criminals another chance to kill.
Cons- Risk to the Innocent- The risk that an innocent person might be executed, Unlike all other criminal punishments, the death penalty is irrevocable,(IRREVERSIBLE)
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT COSTS MORE THAN
The death penalty is the most controversial penal practice in the modern world.
The United States stands apart from the general trends on capital punishment. It is the only Western industrialized nation where executions still take place. Furthermore, it is the only nation that combines frequent executions with a highly developed legal system characterized by respect for individual rights.
Some of the pros and cons are as follows:
Pros- Just Punishment-
A punishment is just if it recognizes the seriousness of the crime. …show more content…
This incapacitation effect is particularly important because of the continuing risk posed by those who have already taken a human life. For example, according to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, of 52,000 state prison inmates serving time for murder in 1984, an estimated 810 had previously been convicted of murder. Had some of these murderers been given the death penalty for their first murders, innocent people would have been spared. . Only a capital sentence can permanently end the threat to others posed by the most serious murderers.
The death penalty gives closure to the victim's families who have suffered so much.
It provides a punishment and deterrent for someone who's already sentenced to life in prison.
Prisoner parole or escapes can give criminals another chance to kill.
Cons- Risk to the Innocent- The risk that an innocent person might be executed, Unlike all other criminal punishments, the death penalty is irrevocable,(IRREVERSIBLE)
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT COSTS MORE THAN