Capital Punishment
Capital PunishmentThe Debate over the merits of capital punishment has endured for years, and continues to be an extremely indecisive and
complicated issue. Adversaries of capital punishment point to the
Marshalls and the Millgards, while proponents point to the Dahmers
and Gacys. Society must be kept safe from the monstrous barbaric
acts of these individuals and other killers, by taking away their
lives to function and perform in our society. At the same time, we
must insure that innocent people such as Marshall and Millgard are
never convicted or sentenced to death for a crime that they did not
commit.
Many contend that the use of capital punishment as a form of
deterrence does not work, as there are no fewer murders on a per-
capita basis in countries or states that do have it, then those
that do not. In order for capital punishment to work as a
deterrence, certain events must be present in the criminal's mind
prior to committing the offence. The criminal must be aware that
others have been punished in the past for the offence that he or
she is planning, and that what happened to another individual who
committed this offence, can also happen to me.
But individuals who commit any types of crime ranging from
auto theft to 1st-Degree Murder, never take into account the
consequences of their actions. Deterrence to crime, is rooted in
the individuals themselves. Every human has a personal set of
conduct. How much they will and will not tolerate. How far they
will and will not go. This personal set of conduct can be made or
be broken by friends, influences, family, home, life, etc. An
individual who is never taught some sort of restraint as a child,
will probably never understand any limit as to what they can do,
until they have learned it themselves. Therefore, capital
punishment will never truly work as a deterrent, because of human
nature to ignore practised advice and to self learn.
There are those who claim that capital punishment is in itself
a form of vengeance on the killer. But isn't locking up a human
being behind steel bars for many years, vengeance itself? And is it
"humane" that an individual who took the...
To view the complete essay, you be registered.