Death Penalty: The Controversy Of Capital Punishment

“In any case, frequent punishments are a sign of weakness or slackness in the government. There is no man so bad that he cannot be made good for something. No man should be put to death, even as an example, if he can be left to live without danger to society.”( Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract) What Rousseau stated here aids in prompting thoughts such as whether carrying out the death penalty is morally right? Does punishment need to go as far as bestowing death on a person’s life? Should the loss of a life be considered an efficient way of repaying those who were affected by the crimes that person committed? The death penalty is defined as a sentence of execution administered to someone who has committed murder or some capital crime. (Oxford University Press)
The first death penalty generally recorded happened in sixteenth Century BC Egypt where the wrongdoer was blamed for enchantment, and requested to take his own life. Today, in the U.S. the death penalty is still practiced in thirty states. The controversy of the death penalty can go on and on. Despite the still large numbers using it’s practices their main reasons for its use appear to be that it provides closure for the victims and not surprisingly saves tax payers money. However, the cons of the death penalty outweigh the pros. The death penalty should not be used because it does not persuade criminals to stop committing murders, prison itself should be a fair enough punishment, and it is cruel and