Capital Punishment and Civilized Society Essay

Submitted By milkcookie
Words: 1362
Pages: 6
Open Document
Do you have death penalty in your country? The definition of death penalty is the use of death as a legally sanctioned punishment. The death penalty is a method of punishment for murder and other heinous crimes. Most countries have abolished the death penalty and most others use it rarely if ever. Some people support abolishing the death penalty because they believe it is cruel in a civilized society and it is also a kind of murder. However, a few remaining countries like China, the U.S, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan still regularly put people to death. They think the death penalty is a means of retribution for murder and it is deterrence. The death penalty is still a topic of argument that many people discuss, and whether the government abolishes the death penalty has become a controversy. I think that the government should abolish the death penalty because it is too cruel, unfair to the poor, and may result in the killing of innocent people. Governments should abolish the death penalty because it is a cruel, barbaric and uncivilized practice. It punishes murderers by killing and encourages violence. John O’Sullivan says “The death penalty is sometimes the only punishment that seems equal to the horror of a particular crime—a cold-blooded poisoning” (402). Murderers should be given the deserved punishment such as live in prison or monetary compensation, but not the death penalty. And we should give them time to reflect on their mistakes instead of killing them. If you kill a murderer that won’t bring their victims back, it won’t change anything and it doesn’t fulfill the purpose of supporting the law. Also, many people are Christian and they believe in God. God encourages us to forgive, as long as you ask for forgiveness, and entreats you to forgive those who trespass against us. Therefore, the death penalty is too cruel for religious morals. At the same time, the death penalty is a relentless law that contradicts the law itself, which states that every person is endowed with inalienable rights. The death penalty doesn’t conform to a civilized and modern society. Governments have a responsibility to protect the lives of citizens including murderers. I like many others, believe that the death penalty is incompatible with a civilized society because a civilized society rejects capital punishment (O’Sullivan 405). The death penalty doesn’t adapt to a civilized society and the civilized society should reduce the rate of crime and decrease murders. Only building a civilized society can improve the moral quantity of citizens. If people live in an uncivilized society, they might be unmoral and have wrong value. There is no doubt that the death penalty is cruel and uncivilized, and so government should abolish capital punishment. Besides the cruelty of the death penalty, it is unfair for the poor, and this is another reason why it should be abolished. The poor sometimes get unfair judgment because the jurors have bias against them. For example, if a hobo, and a rich person are both tried in court, the probability of the hobo being convicted of the crime is higher than the rich person because the hobo doesn’t have job and income. Even though they can get fair judgments, expensive lawyers use delays to stop executions. The death penalty always happened in the death penalty. Joshua Green states “The average delay from sentencing to execution has grown from six years in 1985, to eight years in 1990, to 11years today” (395). Many lawyers of murderers use delay tactics to stop an execution and continue to appeal. A typical example from “Deadly Compromise”, a murderer called Robert Alton Harris killed two California teenagers and was sentenced to death in 1979. But his lawyers delayed his execution for 13 years by repeatedly manipulating the appeals system. Finally, the court against overturned the Harris’s appeals and he was put to death in 1992 (Green). This is unfair for everyone, especially for
Show More

Related Documents: Capital Punishment and Civilized Society Essay

Death Penalty Essay

concern; many countries favor the ‘Death Penalty’ and apply that, while many other object strongly to this punishment. My opinion is that the death penalty should be banned as a form of punishment. What is Capital punishment? Capital punishment is the death penalty. It is used today and was used in ancient times to punish a variety of offences. The death penalty has no place in a civilized society. It is none of the things that its proponents say it is. It is not fairly administered, it does not prevent…

Words 651 - Pages 3

The Law: The Code Of Hammurabi

Americans law has been applied from the older societies, with the most commonly known being the Greek. the ancient Greeks got their ideas for law, the set of laws written on a giant piece of stone years ago, influences our lives today, the code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi started his rule of Mesopotamia in a time of chaos and frequent war; he made it his mission to establish justice in the area and in doing so changed the course of history. He founded the first written legal code which was a set of 282…

Words 499 - Pages 2

Van Dee Haag's Argument On The Death Penalty

they believe it’s a fair punishment, while others — including myself – believe that it’s an excuse for revenge and question its effectiveness and morality. I strongly disagree with Van Dee Haag's position on the death penalty, which holds that it is an essential tool in the fight against horrible crimes. From my perspective, the primary objective of incarceration ought to go beyond simple punishment and instead function as a means of rehabilitation and reintegration into society. As a result, I oppose…

Words 843 - Pages 4

Pros And Cons Of Capital Punishment

years ago, and to this day several countries such as China and the United States continue to enforce capital punishment against those proven guilty of murder, treason, espionage and other crimes. Despite its extensive history, the implementation of the death penalty in modern societies raises an underlying question: Is the execution of criminals truly justifiable? Proponents of capital punishment claim that it dissuades criminals from committing extreme crimes. Potential murderers will be much less…

Words 790 - Pages 4

Deviance Crime And Social Control

is deviance that breaks a law, which is a norm stipulated and enforced by government bodies. Sanctions Disapprovals of deviance. Informal punishment is a mild sanction imposed during face-to-face interaction, not by the judicial system. Stigmatized - People who are negatively evaluated because of something that distinguishes them from others. Formal punishment takes place when the judicial system penalizes someone for breaking a law. Types of Deviance and Crime Vary in terms of: Severity of the…

Words 1263 - Pages 6

Pros And Cons Of Moral Relativism

Moral Relativisim: The Argument Against Capital Punishment Moral relativism is the idea that no one person is right or wrong and nothing is true or false, there is not a single true moral standard. Moral relativists believe that as humans we should be tolerant of certain behaviors based on the ideas or viewpoint of another person, society, cultural or a historical situation. When is Rome, do as the Romans do. Moral relativism is a viewpoint that if someone believe it, then it is true for them…

Words 1381 - Pages 6

Capital Punishment Essay

Capital Punishment is the legally authorized killing of someone as a punishment for a crime. In the United States, the death penalty is the highest form of punishment we have. Throughout the history of the United States millions of people have died by death row. In 1976, The United States had passed a law legalizing the Death Penalty. Many people believe that the death penalty is a successful process that is serving a purpose, while on the other hand many people would argue the death penalty is a…

Words 1532 - Pages 7

Texas Death Penalty

state of Texas. Furthermore, this paper will clearly articulate the reasons as to why ending the practice of capital punishment is the only morale and fiscally responsible way forward. This paper will use historical and contemporary sources to further illuminate how the death penalty has negatively impacted Texan society. This paper will dispel long enduring myths that capital punishment serves as a deterrent against more crime. Finally, this paper will highlight exactly why the death penalty, in…

Words 2002 - Pages 9

Capital Punishment Essay: Life Without Parole

Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a sentence that a criminal must conform preceding committing a capital crime. Capital crimes consist of mass murders and other offenses that have the United States divided. The word ‘Capital' is distant from Latin ‘Capitalis’ implicating the head— ‘Capute’ in the sentence that was served in decapitating the criminal. The death penalty has been a method for thousands of years. After the Timothy McVeigh execution on June 11, 2001 there was over…

Words 1862 - Pages 8

THE DEATH PENALTY Essay

focused on personal retribution. Americans held fast to the notion that humankind was naturally licentious which allowed the barbaric nature of the death penalty at the time to flourish. During the Middle Ages establishing guilt before inflicting punishment gained popularity. Battle, Ordeal, and Compurgation were the influential ways this was determined. However, “since humans are fallible the risk of executing the innocent can never be eliminated (Amnesty 2012). Soon the government realized that…

Words 1722 - Pages 7