Death Penalty Paper Soc 101

Death Penalty: For or Against?
Tinsa Lyn-Scot Kamp
SOC101: Introduction to Sociology
Professor Rachael Horn
February 14th, 2011

Death Penalty: For or Against? I have to admit, I did have a preconceived idea of how I felt about the death penalty before reading the article in our textbook, (p.175-177), The Death Penalty in the United States and Worldwide. (Schaefer, 2009) This article really sheds some light on the whole idea of sentencing death as a punishment for a crime committed. After reading this and a few other articles, I found myself changing my opinions quite rapidly. Many reasons are the reason for this quite positive yet hasty change. Many people, sometimes especially the victim’s family members, feel that the death penalty should be reinforced for such crimes as murder, rape, and child molestation. Perhaps this very strong feeling is due to the pain and anger they feel for the loss of their loved one(s)? Perhaps this is the way they would feel whether or not they had been a victim of such a horrible situation and loss? In whichever circumstance, it is a very hard decision to make. According to journalist Cathleen Kaveny, “hard cases keep ethical reflection honest.” (2010)
In our society, being for or against the death penalty is most likely, always going to be a debatable decision for punishment in our society. It is a decision and/or belief that should not be made easily or taken lightly. We are talking about taking the life of another human being for a crime they have been convicted of and found guilty of. This is certainly not a stress-free type of judgment to make; as it should never be very tranquil to come to the conclusion that taking someone’s life is the best route for a punishment.
Many questions are raised when it comes to the death penalty. First and foremost, does it serve as a deterrent to crime? In my own opinion, it does not. Most criminals, especially those who commit most heinous crimes, stare death in the face every day they go outside their homes. This doesn’t stop them from being a criminal, so why would the death penalty scare them? After all, they may not even get caught, charged, or convicted! I just don’t think that death is a number one concern for the most dangerous criminals out there today!
Though it may not scare these high ranked street criminals, the death penalty was brought into motion for a reason. One of the main reasons was for the simple fact of making sure that the perpetrator isn’t going to hurt another human being ever again. Also making them pay for the crime they committed with the ultimate punishment that is irreversible; capital punishment. What about the people who are being falsely accused and convicted of a crime they simply did not commit? For whatever reason they are being convicted the reality of the matter is that people have and will continue to be falsely euthanized as way of capital punishment.
There is a man named Robert Gene Will on death row in Arlington, Texas for being convicted of a crime that he simply did not commit. There were two men in the scenario, Rob and his friend Rocky. Both men ran from the police; however, Rob is the one that was caught, cuffed, then later charged and convicted for a murder that Rocky committed. Rocky snuck behind Deputy Barrett Hill and shot him in the back, freed Rob, and the two ran in opposite directions. To this day Rob is still on death row, fighting his was through endless appeals to free him of a crime that he did not commit. To complicate matter worse, Rocky is the son of one of the county’s deputy police officers. (Booker, Schulte, 2011)
So, after reading this story, should I support a form of punishment for convicted criminals that is corrupt in places such as Texas? I think not! If only ONE place was corrupt, that is enough for me to say there is a chance of this situation elsewhere in the United States. This particular case is a result of a son of a police officer getting away with something just for the simple fact that he “knows someone” in the system; while another man is being falsely convicted and sentenced to death for that crime. This is not something that I would be willing to risk when contemplating the death penalty.
Another question that comes to light with the death penalty is, should youths who have been convicted of violent crimes be subject to the death penalty? To answer this question simply, (which is exactly what it is to me a simple question to answer) absolutely not! Children are just that: children. They are not taught any better than what the parents teach them. If a child is raised in a gang lifestyle, should he/she be punished for something that they don’t even know any differently? I don’t think so. How are they to learn differently if they are never taught? I don’t think they should get away with violent crimes; however, children or youths are not mentally mature enough to be held responsible for something the same as an adult would be. Children and youths have completely different minds than adults do. Also, in most cases and adult has a better sense of judgment than that of a child or youth. The youth of today’s society, and really at any point in time, have so much to learn and grow from that it is practically unconstitutional to charge and/or convict a child or youth of a violent crime as an adult.
Overall, I would say that I am completely against the death penalty. The main reason for this is my religion. In my Bible it says, “thou shall not murder” in Exodus 20:13. This means that you should not murder. I really don’t feel that murdering a murderer is saying something great. I didn’t feel this way at the beginning of this assignment. I thought that in certain cases the death penalty was okay. I do not feel this way anymore. Some people feel that it would be cheaper to “just kill them!” This is not the case. It is over two times more expensive to sentence one to death than to sentence them to life in prison. (Schaefer, 2009) On this fact alone we should be reconsidering the terms in which one would receive the death penalty as punishment!

References
Booker, K., Schulte, B., & (2011, February). Issue 53. In Rob Will: Innocent and fighting on Texas death row [article]. Retrieved February 12, 2011, from Campaign to End the Death Penalty website: http://nodeathpenalty.org/new_abolitionist/february-2011-issue-53/ rob-will-innocent-and-fighting-texas-death-row Kaveny, C.. (2010). A Horrific Crime. Commonweal, 137(22), 6. Retrieved February 13, 2011, from ProQuest Religion. (Document ID: 2232105371).

Schaefer, R.T. (2009) Sociology: A brief introduction (8th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill

References: Booker, K., Schulte, B., & (2011, February). Issue 53. In Rob Will: Innocent and fighting on Texas death row [article]. Retrieved February 12, 2011, from Campaign to End the Death Penalty website: http://nodeathpenalty.org/new_abolitionist/february-2011-issue-53/ rob-will-innocent-and-fighting-texas-death-row Kaveny, C.. (2010). A Horrific Crime. Commonweal, 137(22), 6.  Retrieved February 13, 2011, from ProQuest Religion. (Document ID: 2232105371). Schaefer, R.T. (2009) Sociology: A brief introduction (8th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill