Thursday, May 14, 2020

Capital Punishment Not Cruel and Not Unusual Essay

Capital punishment and the practice of the death penalty is an issue that is passionately debated in the United States. Opponents of the death penalty claim that capital punishment is unnecessary since a life sentence accomplishes the same objective. What death penalty opponents neglect to tell you is that convicted murders and child rapists escape from prison every year(List of prison escapes, 2015). As I write this essay, police are searching for two convicted murders who escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York on June 6th, 2015. The ONLY punishment from which one cannot escape is capital punishment. As the world is changing, so are people’s views on the death penalty. Some think that it does not†¦show more content†¦Throughout time, people were executed for various crimes such as: not confessing to a crime, stealing, cutting down a tree, marrying a Jew, killing chickens, being a spy, striking one’s mother or father, murder, and much more ( deathpenaltycurriculum.org). In a study I did, 50% of them thought the death penalty was cruel and unusual. Out of the 15 that thought it was cruel and unusual, 11 said that murderers and or rapists should get the death penalty. Capital Punishment has been around for so long it doesn’t need to be outlawed, just revised a little more like it has been as the years passed. Racism is often an excuse people use to say how unfair the death penalty is against African Americans. This excuse has been proven false in a few studies. More white murderers have been put to death since 1976 then black murderers, showing that the death penalty is not unjust to African Americans and minorities (Fisanick 26).In contrast, almost half of the criminals, on death row are black. Even though that is the case, blacks commit more murders than whites making it proportional (deathpenaltycurriculum.org). Criminals should not be given a lighter or harsher sentence due to their race, but due to the crimes that they committed and the severity of them. A big worry that the supreme courts have to deal with is the fear of accidentally convicting and executing an innocent person. To prevent this from happening they have toShow MoreRelatedCapital Punishment Is Cruel And Unusual1092 Words   |  5 Pagespeople believe that capital punishment is cruel and unusual. It is the only punishment that can truly compensate the loss of a loved one. In recent years, the rate of serious crimes has increased. 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