Capital Punishment, Death Penalty - What Are We Waiting For? :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

Capital Punishment Essays What Are We Waiting For? execution prevents eighteen finish ups per year.(Hirsch, 122)         Opponents argue that capital punishment is immoral.  But if you followthe Old Testament, it is moral.  In one passage from Genesis, Whoever sheds theblood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.  Another from Exodus, Eye for aneye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound forwound, cuff for stripe (Samaha, 440).  It was not very moral of the prisonerto commit a murder in the first place.  Why should it be immoral to execute aprisoner, but moral to kill an innocent person.  It is as morally right topunish criminals for their wicked deeds as it is to praise heroes for theirheroic deeds.  If it is noble for soldiers to give their lives for their coarsein wartime, then it is morally right to claim the lives of murderers for killinginnocent people in peaceable society(Samah a, 441).  According to ProfessorErnest van den Haag  The career of each man should be sacred to each other man...it is not enough to proclaim the sacredness and inviolability of human life.  Itmust be secured as well, by weighed down with the loss of their own life thosewho violate what has been proclaimed as inviolable-the right of innocents tolive (Haag, 67).         Other opponents argue that there is the chance of executing an innocentprisoner.  Hugo ecstasy Bedu and Michael L. Radelet collected evidence of everycapital punishment case after the 1930s.  They concluded that 23 innocentpeople, out of several thousand cases in the ordinal century, were convictedand executed,  but all of these mistakes were made because there was a forcedconfession, suppression of evidence, and  perjury (Samaha 442).  That means notone of these persons was actually innocent they just had fearful lawyers, or nolawyers when they had their trial.  The last time a truly innocent person wasexecuted was before the 1930s.         The biggest argument for capital punishment is retribution.  The victimsfamily often feels improve when the prisoner has been executed.  Retributionsatisfies the demand for justice. It channels public outrage into the acceptableform of the criminal sentence.  If criminal sentences do not satisfy this demandfor justice, aggravated citizens may lose respect for law and even, on occasion, takeit into their own hands (Samaha, 414).  The punishment handed out should fitthe crime committed, if a murder is committed then he or she deserves to beexecuted.  The best solution to the problem is to execute the prisoner right