Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

The death penalty is defined as a punishment of execution given to someone legally convicted of a capital crime. It is only administered to men and woman 18 years of age or older. In the US crimes deemed deserving of the death penalty include the following: treason, terrorism, espionage, federal murder, large scale drug trafficking, and attempting to kill a witness, juror, or a court officer. As you can see, the Death Penalty is only distributed to those of who commit large scale, inexcusable crimes and not to those who carry out small, pardonable offenses. Those who support the death penalty may argue that it dissuades other from committing the same crimes, while those against the death penalty might argue that it is inhumane or playing God.
Having the Death Penalty as a punishment for capital criminals can provide possible closure for the families of victims. Many victims spawn from a single crime. An example of a case in which closure for a victim is provided was in June 25, 2008 when Petitioner Patrick Kennedy was convicted and sentenced to death in Louisiana for the rape of his 8 year-old stepdaughter (Kennedy v. Louisiana US Supreme Court, 554 U.S. June 25, 2008). Though the sentence didn’t provide complete closure for the victim’s families, it did provide a resolution in knowing justice has been served. Another example of a case in which a sense of resolution is reached was in June 29, 1977 when Erlich Anthony Coker, while serving sentences for murder, rape, kidnapping, and assault, escaped from a Georgia jail. He later broke into a house, raped and kidnapped the resident woman and took her car. Eventually, he was caught and sentenced to death (Coker v. Georgia, US Supreme Court, 433
Those who argue its hypocrisy might say murder is not the answer to ending murder, however, the act of murder does in fact end things for better or for worse. It is up to our justice system to make sure it ends things for the better. The argument of the inhumanity can be rebutted by the fact that there are other methods besides the commonly thought of electric chair. In fact, even the electric chair is not as painful as one might think, because the electricity shuts off the brain faster than it can register the pain of the chair’s effects. Therefore, the way criminals are executed is not always inhumane and even less painful in today’s age. The argument that this act negatively exalts our humanity by allowing us to play God with other humans is simply a fallacy. Those of whom carry out the death penalty have normal psychological characteristics and do not, in fact, enjoy watching others suffer, because if they did, they would be in the same position as the people they’re trying to