Death Penalty
Should the death penalty be allowed?Standard Site | | 1,188 people were executed in the US from 1977 through 2009, primarily by means of lethal injection. Most death penalty cases involve the execution of murderers although capital punishment can also be applied for treason, espionage, and other crimes.
Proponents of the death penalty say it is an important tool for preserving law and order, deters crime, and costs less than life imprisonment. They argue that retribution or "an eye for an eye" honors the victim, helps console grieving families, and ensures that the perpetrators of heinous crimes never have an opportunity to cause future tragedy.
Opponents of capital punishment say it has no deterrent effect on crime, wrongly gives governments the power to take human life, and perpetuates social injustices by disproportionately targeting people of color (racist) and people who cannot afford good attorneys (classist). They say lifetime jail sentences are a more severe and less expensive punishment than death. | |
Top 10 Pros and Cons
Should the death penalty be allowed?
The PRO and CON statements below give a five minute introduction to the death penalty debate.
(Read more information about our one star to five star Theoretical Credibility System) 1. Morality 2. Constitutionality 3. Deterrence 4. Retribution 5. Irrevocable Mistakes | 6. Cost of Death vs. Life in Prison 7. Race 8. Income Level 9. Attorney Quality 10. Physicians at Execution |
PRO Death Penalty | CON Death Penalty | 1. Morality | PRO: "The crimes of rape, torture, treason, kidnapping, murder, larceny, and perjury pivot on a moral code that escapes apodictic [indisputably true] proof by expert testimony or otherwise. But communities would plunge into anarchy if they could not act on moral assumptions less certain than that the sun will rise in the east and set in the west. Abolitionists may contend that the death penalty is inherently immoral
Proponents of the death penalty say it is an important tool for preserving law and order, deters crime, and costs less than life imprisonment. They argue that retribution or "an eye for an eye" honors the victim, helps console grieving families, and ensures that the perpetrators of heinous crimes never have an opportunity to cause future tragedy.
Opponents of capital punishment say it has no deterrent effect on crime, wrongly gives governments the power to take human life, and perpetuates social injustices by disproportionately targeting people of color (racist) and people who cannot afford good attorneys (classist). They say lifetime jail sentences are a more severe and less expensive punishment than death. | |
Top 10 Pros and Cons
Should the death penalty be allowed?
The PRO and CON statements below give a five minute introduction to the death penalty debate.
(Read more information about our one star to five star Theoretical Credibility System) 1. Morality 2. Constitutionality 3. Deterrence 4. Retribution 5. Irrevocable Mistakes | 6. Cost of Death vs. Life in Prison 7. Race 8. Income Level 9. Attorney Quality 10. Physicians at Execution |
PRO Death Penalty | CON Death Penalty | 1. Morality | PRO: "The crimes of rape, torture, treason, kidnapping, murder, larceny, and perjury pivot on a moral code that escapes apodictic [indisputably true] proof by expert testimony or otherwise. But communities would plunge into anarchy if they could not act on moral assumptions less certain than that the sun will rise in the east and set in the west. Abolitionists may contend that the death penalty is inherently immoral