Capital Punishment Essay -- Crime Jail Death Penalty Essays

Capital Punishment Throughout the history of man, the penalty of death was given to criminals who broke the law. Capital Punishment is the extreme penalty for crime (Compton's) and is still in use today in many countries. A criminal can be sentenced to death for various crimes. Even more were the methods used to execute, many being cruel and unusual. There have been many debates on whether or not to abolish the death penalty. There are many pros and cons to this complicated issue. Capital Punishment is in use for many reasons and has been enforced in numerous ways throughout the years. The condemned prisoner on death row may have broken the law, but does that give us the right to take the life of another human being?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Why have we used the death penalty? The death sentence permanently removes law-breakers from our society and "prevents the executed criminal from continuing his criminal career (Hollywood Studio)." We kill in desperate hopes that these killers and rapists will not be able to strike again, murdering or raping more innocent victims. In many cases, the criminal has broken the law, but if he is let off easily and slips through the system, he may go out and commit the crime again and again. The death penalty is the ultimate punishment; it gets the point through and teaches the lesson that society will not put up with the people who break the law. It is a very real punishment and leaves no room for rehabilitation of the criminal. Repeat offenders must be kept from breaking the law once more. They have had their chances to repent and reform. The only other way to stop repeat offenders is to merely eliminate them (Electric Chair). Why not just sentence them to life impris onment? Life imprisonment just isn't as effective as the Death Penalty because it is not as severe and harsh (KSCOffices). Life imprisonment is soft and only succeeds in removing the criminal for a certain amount of time. Life imprisonment is also very expensive. The criminal who broke the law should not be allowed to mooch money off the system, receiving heating, clothing, in-door plumbing, and three meals a day, whilst a homeless person has nothing and has not harmed anyone. It costs roughly $30,000 each year to keep an inmate in jail, and many people do not feel it's worth their money to keep Capital offense criminals alive. We use the death penalty to teach a lesson t... ...Penalty and the Disadvantaged. Wisconsin: Gary E. McCuen Publications, Inc., 1997. McCuen, Gary E., and R.A. Baumgart. Reviving the Death Penalty. Wisconsin: Gary E. McCuen Publications, Inc., 1985. Isenberg, Irwin. The Reference Shelf: The Death Penalty. New York: H.W.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wilson Company, 1977. Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia. Compton's NewMedia, Inc., 1994. Webster's Concise Encyclopedia. Sofsource, Inc., 1996. Clark, Richard. "Some Thoughts on the Death Penalty." [Online] Available http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/capital_punishment- UK/homepage.html, May 14, 1998. No Author. "The Electric Chair." [Online] Available http://www.theelectricchair.com//index.htm. May 8, 1998. No Author. "Methods of Execution." [Online] Available http://www.dos.state.fl.us/fgils/agencies/fcc/reports/monitor/methmon.html/, May 8, 1998. Dieter, Richard C.. "Capital Punishments in the Past: Capital Punishments." [Online] Available http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/3015/cap.htm, July, 1998. McNamara, Colleen. "Capital Punishment" [Online] Available http://www.keene.edu/KSCoffices/upward/cappun.htm. Keene State College Upward Bound, 1997.