This essay Who Do We Think We Are has a total of 1668 words and 16 pages.
Who Do We Think We Are?
Who Do We Think We Are?
Capital Punishment is the penalty of death for a crime. The most common criminals
who are executed are convicted murderers. What message is that sending? The use of
capital punishment sends the message that murder is okay, as long as it is applied to the
right person. The application of capital punishment in our society is hypocritical. It has no
place in the judicial system.
The way we handle the punishment of capital crimes is pathetic! There are other
ways to punish criminals outside of taking their lives, but we, for some reason, feel the
need to play the exterminator. The people who commit capital crimes are not animals to
be exterminated. They are human. They deserve the same breath that everyone else takes.
If a person commits a heinous crime then that person is obviously not normal. That person
is obviously in need of mental help and, we should help these criminals instead of hurting
Criminals have families and friends who care about them. Why should the innocent
bystanders be punished because of another's actions? Killing anyone, for any reason, only
brings on more pain and suffering than is necessary. We should recognize the problems in
our society and heal those problems instead of placing a temporary fix on a permanent
Capital punishment is excessive and unnecessary. Killing a criminal only solves one
problem and causes many more. The one problem it solves is the criminal is no longer
walking the streets. Encarceration would serve the same purpose. If the criminal is
encarcerated then he/she no longer poses a direct threat to society, so killing him/her
would be overkill (pardon the pun). It causes other problems because the criminal was
executed merely out of retribution. Sort of an eye for an eye. Actions like this only keep
hatred and condemnation flowing in society (progress.org).
A punishment can only be called a deterrent if it is performed consistantly and
promptly. There are three reasons why capital punishment cannot be performed with any
consistancy or promptness.
1) The number of convicted murderers sentenced to death are small, and of that number,
an even smaller number are actually executed
2)Manditory death sentences are unconstitutional (Woodson v. North Carolina, 1976).
3)A considerable time between the imposition of the death sentence and the actual
execution is unavoidable.
If a person is going to premeditate a capital crime, he/she is not going to be
concerned with the punishment he/she will recieve. Instead, they are actually concentrating
on how they will commit the crime. Even after that they are not thinking of the
consequences, they now are thinking of how they will evade detection and capture by the
police. The severest of punishments will not deter these criminals.
If a capital crime is commited in the heat of the moment, when most capital crimes
actually are, the criminal is not thinking correctly, he/she can not actually contemplate
what will happen as a result of commiting the crime. Every human being on this planet has
a breaking point, and everyone is capable of murder. When someone reaches that point
there is no punishment capable of deterring them.
Some capital crimes are commited as a result of being under the influence of drugs
or alcohol. The criminals who commit these capital crimes are obviously not in a right
frame of mind and should not be executed. This is not to say they shouldn't be held
accountable for their actions, this is merely saying they do not deserve to lose their own
life. They may not even be conscious of the action they are committing, so how could they
possibly consider the consequences?
There are also other, underlying, situations when capital crimes are commited.
Here are a few:
Mentally ill individuals who have little or no regard for the consequence of their
Brain-damaged individuals who experience periods of uncontrollable rage and
Political terrorists who are acting for either a religion or a leader of a group that
honors it's martyrs.
Professional hit-men who are ONLY focused on evading capture
Other than professional hit-men, few of the people mentioned are actually in a
rational state of mind when they commit their crimes. Death as a deterrent is an unrealistic
idea for these individuals because either they cannot conceive
Topics Related to Who Do We Think We Are
Penology, English criminal law, Law, Capital punishment, Social policy, Crime, Misconduct, Gregg v. Georgia, Murder in English law, Capital punishment debate in the United States, Capital punishment in Japan
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