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Ethical And Unusual Punishment Essay

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Ethical And Unusual Punishment Essay
Cruel and Unusual Punishment
The simplest definition of the word murder is the killing of one human being by another. Coincidentally, the definition of capital punishment is the same. Since childhood, the act of murder has been ingrained in our minds as unethical and wrong. So why then do states continue to use the death penalty? The question is widely debated but the answer is simple. Capital punishment needs to be abolished on the grounds that it carries dangerous risks of punishing innocent people, is discriminatory against one’s race, and is ineffective in diminishing crime.
The major issue concerning the death penalty is the execution of innocent victims. Though humans are known to make mistakes, when it comes down to taking away someone’s right to live, mistakes cannot be made. According to The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP), “143 individuals have been exonerated--that is, found to be innocent and set free. In other words, for every 10 people who have been executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, ONE person has been set free”. These are not just numbers, but the lives of innocent human beings being taken away. Drastic and risky …show more content…
To back up their opinion they claim murdering a person who murdered someone else shows that the act of murdering is wrong. However this is not true. A survey conducted by criminologists for the Amnesty International Foundation concluded, “Over 88% believed the death penalty was not a deterrent to murder.” Criminologist further revealed that states that preformed the most executions contain the highest murder rates where as states where executions are few, have the lowest murder rate (NCADP). The reason: The threat of being executed at some future date is unlikely to enter the minds of criminals (Amnesty International). So not only is crime not being diminished, humans are dying immoral
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