Death Penalty Wrong

The Death Penalty: Right or Wrong?

The death penalty is one of the main solutions to prevent crime rates in different states. It should be legalized in all fifty states, to avert from crime, keep repeat offenders off of the streets, and to reduce taxpayers the cost of keeping those found guilty of immoral crimes in prison low. The death penalty can, in fact, prevent outrageous crimes from being committed when it is lawful in a state. Social scientists have stated, “The act of general deterrence, which is when the punishment dissuaded potential criminals from committing crimes, keeps criminals from going through with crimes” (Baird and Rosenbaum). Heinous crimes have been reduced highly in the states that have a capital punishment law such
“Evidence for capital punishment’s general deterrent effect comes from three sources: logic, firsthand reporters, and social science research” (Cassell and Bedau 189). Logic supports the conclusion that the death penalty is the most effective deterrent for some kinds of murders, those that require reflection and forethought by persons of reasonable intelligence and unimpaired mental faculties. Firsthand reports from criminals and victims confirm our logical intuition that the death penalty deters (Cassell and Bedau 190). Senator Dianne Feinstein recounted her experience in the 1960s sentencing of a women convicted of robbery in the first degree. She asked the women why was the gun that she brought unloaded, the women replayed, “So I would not panic, kill somebody, and get the death penalty” (Cassell and Bedau 190). This is a great example of how the death penalty does cause people to question their actions before they go through with them. Even if this was the only case where a life was saved, one innocent life is worth putting to death a psycho killer. Texas is one of many states showing the greatest relative improvements overtime due to the death
States such as New York are allowing these monsters to go on living and possibly have the chance to walk free again. Twenty years prior to the rape and murder of Colleen Reed, McDuss was sentenced to death but was able to escape his sentence. He was released in 1989 by Texas authorities who indirectly caused him to finish his killing spree (Cassell and Bedau 184). If he was executed to begin with, all of the women he murdered would have been able to die normal, peaceful deaths home with their family and loved ones. By allowing sick criminals the ability to keep living, we are killing many more innocent lives, possibly one of our siblings, parents’ cousins or best friends. Bringing ourselves to agree to murder someone may seem unfair or morally wrong, but it needs to be our job to put the safety of our environment before our personal