Capital Punishment - Stop the Killing :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Capital Punishment - Stop the Killing Looking out for the state of the publics satisfaction in the scheme ofcapital sentencing does not constitute serving justice. Todays system ofcapital punishment is fraught with inequalities and injustices. The commonlyoffered arguments for the end penalty are filled with holes. It was adeterrent. It removed killers. It was the ultimate punishment. It is biblical. It satisfied the publics need for retribution. It relieved the anguish of thevictims family.(Grisham 120) Realistically, imposing the death penalty isexpensive and time consuming. Retroactively, it has yet to be proven as adeterrent. Morally, it is a continuation of the cycle of violence and...degrades all who are involved in its enforcement, as well as itsvictim.(Stewart 1) Capital Punishment has been adjourn of the criminal justicesystem since the earliest of times. The Babylonian Hammurabi Code(ca. 1700 B.C.)decreed death for crimes as minor as the fraudulent sale of beer(Flanders 3 ).Egyptians could be put to death for disclosing the location of sacred burialsites(Flanders 3). However, in recent times opponents overhear shown the deathpenalty to be racist, barbaric, and in violation with the United StatesConstitution as ...cruel and unusual punishment. In this country, althoughlaws governing the application of the death penalty have undergone many changessince biblical times, the punishment endures, and controversy has never beengreater. Perhaps the most usual argument for capital punishment is that ofdeterrence. The prevailing thought is that imposition of the death penalty willact to dissuade other criminals from committing violent acts. Numerous studieshave been created attempting to prove this belief however, All the evidencetaken together makes it hard to be confident that capital punishment deters morethan long prison legal injury do.(Cavanagh 4) Going ever farther, Bryan Stevenson,the executive director director of the Montgomery based Equal Justice Initiative, hasstated that people are increasingly realizing that the more we resort to violent death as a legitimate response to our frustration and anger with violence, themore violent our society becomes. Revenge is an unworthy motive for our society to pursue.(Whittier 1)In our society, thither is a great expectation placed on the family of a victimto pursue vengeance to the highest degree -- perhaps 1 the death penalty. PatBane, executive director of the Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation(MVFR), stated, One parent told me that people made her feel like she wasbetraying her son because she did not want to kill the person who offhim.(Frame 50) This creates a dilemma of morality. If anything, by forcingfamilies to seek the death penalty, their own consciences will be burdened by