The Death Penalty At A Glance
The death penalty has been the highest form of criminal punishment in the United States judicial system since the eighteenth century. Over the past two hundred plus years, execution has taken place in the form of hanging, stoning, drowning, burning, beheading, gassing, electrocution, and injection. Crime is everywhere in today's society. Wherever we look there are criminals and crimes taking place. Criminals are a part of our daily lives.
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Death Penalty?
Opponents of the death penalty say prosecutors may be seeking the death penalty less often because of the costs of a capital trial, sentencing and post-conviction proceedings. Jurors may also be worried about the costs of the system, the delay between sentence and execution and the risk of executing an innocent person.
Supporters of capital punishment counter that the costs and delays result primarily from obstructionism by death penalty lawyers and that the risk of a wrongful execution is all but nonexistent. Some believe that capital punishment is a good thing when talking about deterrence. Deterrence means to punish somebody as an example and to create fear in other people for the punishment. Death penalty is one of those extreme punishments that would create fear in the mind of any sane person.
There is also a third perspective of the death penalty, people who are neutral. Some people think that death penalty is appropriate in only certain circumstances.
Death Penalty is a very controversial topic. There is much thinking that goes into it before a decision is made on whether a person is for it or against it or even one that may be neutral towards the issue. Do you feel okay taking another person’s life just because that person did something very cruel, or is the better outcome to abolish death penalty in itself, or do you feel that it depends on the crime taken place to be for or against it at the time?
What are the benefits and drawbacks of the Death Penalty?
Opponents of the death penalty say prosecutors may be seeking the death penalty less often because of the costs of a capital trial, sentencing and post-conviction proceedings. Jurors may also be worried about the costs of the system, the delay between sentence and execution and the risk of executing an innocent person.
Supporters of capital punishment counter that the costs and delays result primarily from obstructionism by death penalty lawyers and that the risk of a wrongful execution is all but nonexistent. Some believe that capital punishment is a good thing when talking about deterrence. Deterrence means to punish somebody as an example and to create fear in other people for the punishment. Death penalty is one of those extreme punishments that would create fear in the mind of any sane person.
There is also a third perspective of the death penalty, people who are neutral. Some people think that death penalty is appropriate in only certain circumstances.
Death Penalty is a very controversial topic. There is much thinking that goes into it before a decision is made on whether a person is for it or against it or even one that may be neutral towards the issue. Do you feel okay taking another person’s life just because that person did something very cruel, or is the better outcome to abolish death penalty in itself, or do you feel that it depends on the crime taken place to be for or against it at the time?