Pros And Cons Of Capital Punishment Term paper
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CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: PROS AND CONS
Capital punishment is a subject you can always count on for a lively discussion with plenty of opinions and lots of questions. "Capital Punishment is a term which indicates muddled thinking. The dilemma of kill or be killed, which confronts civilized society daily and inexorably, is bedeviled by the jumble of panic, superstition, and angry resentment we call punishment, expiation, propitiatory blood sacrifice, justice, and many other imposing names. The dilemma is a hard fact which must be faced and organized." (1)
In today's world, terrible crimes are being committed daily. Many believe that these criminals deserve one fate: death. Capital punishment, the death penalty, is the maximum penalty used in punishing people who kill another human being - and is a very controversial method of punishment.
Criminals guilty of murder receive a verdict of capital punishment. Murder is the unlawful killing of another human being with an intentional or criminal intent. First-degree murder is usually premeditated or by deliberate design. In most states, a person convicted of first-degree murder can be sentenced to the death penalty.
Debate over the merits of capital punishment continues on a daily basis. Proponents of capital punishment defend it mainly on two grounds: death is a fitting punishment for murder, and executions maximize public safety through incapacitation and deterrence.
Capital punishment is meant to be a deterrent to crime, specifically murder. Gordon Tullock, of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, states: "Eighty percent of the people who seriously think about crime think of punishment as a deterrent - except for the sociologists, and they wrote all the textbooks." (2) According to statistics, for each execution there are 50 murders averted. This was documented in the U.S. between the years 1967 - 1984. (3) Murders began to rise during the years that capital punishment was not allowed while states were reinstating new guidelines.
Edward Koch, former mayor of New York City, said:
"Had the death penalty been a real possibility in the minds of …murderers, they might
well have stayed their hand. They might have shown moral awareness before their victims
died…Consider the tragic death of Rosa Velez, who happened to be home when a man
named Luis Vera burglarized her apartment in Brooklyn. "Yeah, I shot her," Vera
admitted. "…And I knew I wouldn't go to the chair."
The difference between murder and execution, or between kidnapping and imprisonment, is that the first is unlawful and undeserved, the second a lawful and deserved punishment for an unlawful act. The physical similarities of the punishment to the crime are irrelevant. The relevant difference is not physical, but social. (4)
A value on human life is placed by capital punishment. That value says, in essence, "If you take a life, yours will be forfeited." But, man did not originate the concept of capital punishment. God originated capital punishment
. The Book of Mormon, Nephi 9: 35 states, "murderer who deliberately kills shall die". Alma 1: 13-14 states, "Nehor condemned to die because he shed blood of righteous man"; 1: 18 (30: 10), "he who murders is punished unto death"; 34: 12, "law requires the life of him who has murdered" The Doctrine and Covenants of the Book of Mormon state in Chapter 42: 19, "he who kills shall die"; Chapter 42: 79, "those who kill will be delivered to law of land." These are all descriptive of the words "capital punishment".
On the view of "murder" the Book of Mormon states in Nephi Chapter 9: 35, "wo unto murder who deliberately kills." In Mosiah 2: 13, "the Lord commands that men should not murder." In Alma 30: 10 (34: 12) "if a man murder, he was punished unto death." In Alma 42: 19, "if no law was given, would a man fear he would die if he murder?" In the Doctrine and Covenants, Chapter 42: 79, "any who kill shall be delivered up to laws of land."
The Bible states in Exodus 10: 13, "Thou shall not MURDER." (This is the translation taken directly from the original Hebrew version.) And murder is defined in any dictionary as the UNLAWFUL killing of a person with malice and aforethought. John 8:7, "Let he among you who is without sin, cast the first stone." Matthew 7:1 states, "Judge not, that you be not judged."
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." -Matthew 5: 17-19.
There are many quotes from the Bible that state that the religious should be in favor of the death penalty. One of these in Revelations 13: 9-10 states, "He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints."
"Certainly, capital punishment shouldn't be promoted as a deterrent to
murder. The people who commit atrocities often say they already feel dead
inside. They don't give a damn about consequences. Plus, if they were
acting rationally, so as to be able to weigh such things as consequences,
they probably wouldn't be going around committing atrocities in the first
place. No, people who commit these kinds of crimes are going to commit
them no matter what society threatens to do about it. Which is perhaps
another reason for why we SHOULD have the death penalty. These people
are damaged beyond repair-as a matter of sheer practicality, society
needs to take them out of circulation."(5)
Those against capital punishment state that society cannot allow brutalities of criminal violence to set limits of appropriate punishment. According to opponents, premeditated murder by the state is wrong. Abolitionist use the quote, "Judge not, that you be not judged" to say the death penalty goes against the Christian values since we have to judge to sentence someone to death. Many will refuse to sit on juries that may have to enforce the death penalty as a maximum penalty for the crime committed. But, if you look at the entire picture of what Jesus was saying in Matthew 5: 17-19, we find that Jesus was speaking to the hypocrite. For example, if I cheat, and I see someone else cheating, I cannot judge him or her for cheating. I would be a hypocrite. First, I myself must stop cheating before I could judge the other person. That is called judging in a fair manner, and not being hypocritical. Christians should take the entire scope of the Bible into account when they quote certain passages lest they make the passage look like a hypothetical contradiction. There is a popular saying that only God has the right to take the life of a human being. But, nowhere in the Bible does this statement meet confirmation. God states in Genesis 9: 6, "Whoever sheds Man's blood, by Man his blood shall be shed." He also states in Numbers 35: 31, "Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall be surely put to death."
People against the death penalty will argue that it's cheaper to keep murderers "out of circulation" by putting them in jail than by putting them to death. Well, this argument is well taken. Steps...
(1) The Atlantic Monthly, June, 1948, Capital Punishment by George Bernard Shaw(2) "Capital Punishment," Biblical Principles, (Plymouth Rock Foundation), 1984, p. 17
(3) Ibid
(4) The Death Penalty: Pro and Con (Copyright 1986 Harvard Law Review Association), The Ultimate Punishment: A Defense, Ernest van den Haag, John M. Olin, Professor of Jurisprudence and Public Policy, Fordham University.
(5) A Non-Pacifist Argument Against Capital Punishment, Roy Weatherford
(6) The Coastal Post - May, 1997, Abolish Capital Punishment, Rob Phillips
(7) Grisham 404, Grisham, John. The Chamber. New York: Island Books, 1994
(8) Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac, 1738.
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