Capital Punishment: Against
The use of capital punishment has been a permanent fixture in society since
the earliest civilizations and continues to be used as a form of punishment in
countries today. It has been used for various crimes ranging from the desertion
of soldiers during wartime to the more heinous crimes of serial killers.
However, the mere fact that this brutal form of punishment and revenge has been
the policy of many nations in the past does not subsequently warrant its
implementation in today's society. The death penalty is morally and socially
unethical, should be construed as cruel and unusual punishment since it is both
discriminatory and arbitrary, has no proof of acting as a deterrent, and risks
the atrocious and unacceptable injustice of executing innocent people. As long
as capital punishment exists in our society it will continue to spark the
injustice which it has failed to curb.
Capital punishment is immoral and unethical. It does not matter who
does the killing because when a life is taken by another it is always wrong. By
killing a human being the state lessens the value of life and actually
contributes to the growing sentiment in today's society that certain individuals
are worth more than others. When the value of life is lessened under certain
circumstances such as the life of a murderer, what is stopping others from
creating their own circumstances for the value of one's life such as race, class,
religion, and economics. Immanual Kant, a great philosopher of ethics, came up
with the Categorical Imperative, which is a universal command or rule that
states that society and individuals "must act in such a way that you can will
that your actions become a universal law for all to follow" (Palmer 265). There
must be some set of moral and ethical standards that even the government can not
supersede, otherwise how can the state expect its citizens not to follow its own
example.
Those who support the death penalty believe, or... [continues]
The use of capital punishment has been a permanent fixture in society since
the earliest civilizations and continues to be used as a form of punishment in
countries today. It has been used for various crimes ranging from the desertion
of soldiers during wartime to the more heinous crimes of serial killers.
However, the mere fact that this brutal form of punishment and revenge has been
the policy of many nations in the past does not subsequently warrant its
implementation in today's society. The death penalty is morally and socially
unethical, should be construed as cruel and unusual punishment since it is both
discriminatory and arbitrary, has no proof of acting as a deterrent, and risks
the atrocious and unacceptable injustice of executing innocent people. As long
as capital punishment exists in our society it will continue to spark the
injustice which it has failed to curb.
Capital punishment is immoral and unethical. It does not matter who
does the killing because when a life is taken by another it is always wrong. By
killing a human being the state lessens the value of life and actually
contributes to the growing sentiment in today's society that certain individuals
are worth more than others. When the value of life is lessened under certain
circumstances such as the life of a murderer, what is stopping others from
creating their own circumstances for the value of one's life such as race, class,
religion, and economics. Immanual Kant, a great philosopher of ethics, came up
with the Categorical Imperative, which is a universal command or rule that
states that society and individuals "must act in such a way that you can will
that your actions become a universal law for all to follow" (Palmer 265). There
must be some set of moral and ethical standards that even the government can not
supersede, otherwise how can the state expect its citizens not to follow its own
example.
Those who support the death penalty believe, or... [continues]
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