The Death Penalty - Right or Wrong
XBCOM/275
September 14, 2014
Nye Clinton
The Death Penalty - Right or Wrong
The death penalty has long been a topic of debate amongst families and laws. Some states, such as Texas and Alabama are known for their controversial executions via lethal injection, while others are known for their strong opposition. There are thirty two states with the death penalty and 18 without it. The argument is whether or not the death penalty helps or hurts society and whether or not punishing a criminal by death is the right thing to do.
An argument on the side of those that are for the death penalty is that is deters crime. “What gets little notice, however, is a series of academic studies over the last half-dozen years that claim to settle a once hotly debated argument _ whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. The analyses say yes. They count between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer” (Tanner, 2007). Many criminals are repeat offenders, if they do it once, then they are likely to do it again. So if they are paroled and put back on the street, there stands a good chance of them committing the crime again. However, some argue that the death penalty does not deter crime. North Carolina has not executed anyone since 2006, yet there has been a steady decline in the number of death sentences. “Yet, according to the N.C. Department of Justice, the state murder rate has declined in the years since executions stopped. Given this fact, there is no credible argument that the death penalty deters crime” (Failure to deter crime, n.d.). Regardless of the death penalty being effective against deterring crime, another issue is whether or not it is humane or racially biased. Some think that society should still be an eye for an eye, while others believe that lethally injection someone, even though they are a murderer is wrong.
But what if you are the family of...