Introduction
The formal execution of criminals has all along been used by many societies since the beginning of historical times. Before the introduction of capital punishment in many current societies, the major penalties included flaying, stoning, and burning. In the societies that permit capital punishment, it is mainly imposed on the offenders of murder, treason, and espionage. Many industrialized societies that allow death penalty use lethal injection, electric chair, and hanging. However, some societies still use methods such as stoning, shooting and beheading as the means to kill the victims. Currently, there is a serious controversy over whether the death penalty should be legalized in the United States. The fight between those who support it and those who oppose it have remained a key issue that is yet to be resolved. While those who support death penalty claim that it helps deter crimes in the future, those against it argue in terms of value for human life. Death penalty should be allowed because it is a way of retribution, deterring crimes, closure to the victims and a means of being tough on the serious crimes.
Retribution
People who undergo capital punishments are usually those who have committed capital offenses such as murder. A guilty person should be punished in the same proportion to the severity of their crimes. The justice for the victims of capital offenses requires people to suffer for their wrongdoings and to experience the same measure of suffering that equals the severity of their crimes ( Steel & Steger , 2014). Every criminal deserves to get the punishment that they deserve based on the crime committed. A person who has murdered deserves to get a death sentence which is appropriate for the crimes they have committed. The measure of a punishment that an individual receives is based upon the atrocity of the crime committed. It also depends on the conduct of the criminal and defenselessness as well as the unprotected state of the victim. The appropriate response to crimes requires that the courts impose a punishment that responds to the society’s cry for justice. The fairness in the justice system demands that courts impose the befitting punishment for the criminal so that there are justice and fairness for the victim.
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It is impossible to give back life once it is taken, and for one who has taken away the life of another through murder, the only befitting punishment is the death penalty. A criminal justice system that believes in fairness and justice needs to provide punishment that makes the society and the victims, as well as their families, feel that they have gotten justice ( Steel & Steger, 2014 ). The only way to pay back for the capital offense is by imposing capital punishment. When a person murders another person, it causes a lot of pain and emotions for the family of the victims. It further hurts to see someone who has taken away the life of a loved one continue living. The death penalty can, however, make the family members of the victims feel they have been given justice.
Deterrence
Capital punishment plays a key role in deterring further serious crimes in society. By imposing the death penalty on serious crimes, society ensures that the number of crimes in society is reduced. When a murderer is sentenced to the death sentence, it sends a warning to the rest of the community members that it is wrong to commit a crime. Capital punishments act as a way to send a lesson to those planning to commit capital offenses of the danger they would face when they attempt ( Malik & Holdsworth , 2014). Capital punishment, therefore, helps in deterring of crimes in the society by sending a lesson to those intending to commit the crime that they would be subjected to the death penalty.
Closure for Victims
The death penalty provides closure for the victim’s family. When a person is murdered, the families are subjected to severe mental and psychological torture. While the victim is no longer part of the play in a murder case, the families will be left feeling deprived of their loved ones. The murder itself is grief that subjects the families to a lasting depression and emotional cry. Seeing or having knowledge of the existence of the criminal can be so devastating to the families of the victims ( Malik & Holdsworth , 2014). While the grief may not end with the execution of the murderer, it helps engender a feeling of relief as the family of the victim will no longer have to think of the ordeals. Such a feeling may fail to arise while the murderer is still alive. Therefore, the death penalty helps provides relief to the families of the victims and makes them forget the ordeals that occurred to their loved ones. It is a way to introduce a quicker feeling to them and make them forget and return to their stable state of mind.
The only way that the families of the victims can get a reprieve and feel that fairness and justice have prevailed is to have the criminal undergo the same fate of punishment as the one faced by the victim. If the victim is murdered, the only way that the family can feel relieved and believe that justice has been provided to their loved one is through the death penalty. When their loved one has been killed, the families of the victim can feel that the only way to give them justice is to impose an equivalent punishment that befits the one that their loved one received ( Faulconer, 2016 ). Therefore, the death penalty should be introduced to provide relief to the families of the victim and help them forget the ordeals that their loved ones underwent in the hands of the criminal.
Giving up on the death penalty would mean giving up justice for the crime victims and their families. The prisoners currently in the California death row have murdered over 1000 people. These murders have murdered more than 229 children, 43 peace officers and 294 victims of sexual assault. The introduction of a functional death penalty law can assist protect the public from the societies’ worst criminals. This can help bring some order and peace in society and ensure that cruelty and many serious crimes that lead to loss of lives are prevented.
Need to be tough on Crime
It is a general agreement that crime is a bad thing in society and therefore needs to be stopped by all means. While this seems logical, the question of whether the death penalty needs to be introduced to stop serious crimes comes in. Capital offenses can be dangerous to society as it leads to loss of lives and many other serious negative effects. Such crimes require serious measures that can be used to stop them by all means ( Faulconer, 2016 ). While other forms of punishments such as imprisonment can be a good substitute for such capital offenses, previous studies have shown that it plays a very little role in stopping capital crimes. Being tough on crimes require the introduction of tough punishments on serious crimes. The major way to be tough on severe crimes and stop them is to introduce a death penalty that makes sure everyone found guilty of being involved in serious offense faces the death penalty.
Capital offenses have been on the rise over the last few years as many cases of murder and other serious offenses are reported every day. Many of these cases are usually solved by jailing the offenders over either a long period or for life sentencing. Many people do not see this punishment as serious compared to the severity of the offense. As a result, many people continue to get involved in capital offenses. The introduction of a law that implements the use of the death penalty ensures that fear is introduced to those intending to commit similar crimes. This can ensure that there is a reduction in the crime rates as people will fear being subjected to life imprisonment. It is a way of sending fear to any person intending to engage in a crime because they are aware of the consequences that could follow them should they attempt a capital offense.
Conclusion
The death penalty continues to attract controversy in the United States currently. While many people are opposed to it, the law permitting death penalty ensures that there is justice in the society by providing a punishment that befits the severity of the offense committed. When a person has murdered, then the only best way to provide justice for the victims and their families is to impose a death penalty on the offender. It is a way of deterring crime in society. Based on rational reasoning, everyone can agree that crime needs to be stopped using any possible means, even if it means execution. Death penalty helps deter crimes. Studies have shown that the imposition of the death penalty can help deter crimes by sending a warning and fear amongst those who could be planning commit crime. Therefore, the law on the death penalty should be introduced and implemented to help reduce crimes and enhance justice.
References
Steel, B. S., & Steger, M. A. E. (2014). Death Penalty: Just Punishment or Legalized Homicide?. In Moral Controversies in American Politics (pp. 87-121). Routledge.
Malik, S. C., & Holdsworth, D. P. (2014). A Survey of the History of the Death Penalty in the United States. U. Rich. L. Rev. , 49 , 693.
Faulconer, A. W. (2016). Rebranding Death. BYU J. Pub. L. , 31 , 313.
