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    Death Penalty Paper

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    Mujtaba
    The document discusses arguments for and against the death penalty. It provides a brief history of the death penalty from ancient times to present day in the United States. It then lists reasons given in support of the death penalty, including that it lowers crime rates by deterring murderers, protects innocent people by preventing released convicts from committing further crimes, and accomplishes justice for victims and their families. Finally, it refutes two common arguments against the death penalty by responding that money spent on life imprisonment could be better used elsewhere and that advances in DNA testing help avoid wrongful convictions.

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    Death Penalty Paper

    Uploaded by

    Mujtaba
    113 views3 pages
    The document discusses arguments for and against the death penalty. It provides a brief history of the death penalty from ancient times to present day in the United States. It then lists reasons given in support of the death penalty, including that it lowers crime rates by deterring murderers, protects innocent people by preventing released convicts from committing further crimes, and accomplishes justice for victims and their families. Finally, it refutes two common arguments against the death penalty by responding that money spent on life imprisonment could be better used elsewhere and that advances in DNA testing help avoid wrongful convictions.

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    Death Penalty paper

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    The document discusses arguments for and against the death penalty. It provides a brief history of the death penalty from ancient times to present day in the United States. It then lists reasons given in support of the death penalty, including that it lowers crime rates by deterring murderers, protects innocent people by preventing released convicts from committing further crimes, and accomplishes justice for victims and their families. Finally, it refutes two common arguments against the death penalty by responding that money spent on life imprisonment could be better used elsewhere and that advances in DNA testing help avoid wrongful convictions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    113 views3 pages

    Death Penalty Paper

    Uploaded by

    Mujtaba
    The document discusses arguments for and against the death penalty. It provides a brief history of the death penalty from ancient times to present day in the United States. It then lists reasons given in support of the death penalty, including that it lowers crime rates by deterring murderers, protects innocent people by preventing released convicts from committing further crimes, and accomplishes justice for victims and their families. Finally, it refutes two common arguments against the death penalty by responding that money spent on life imprisonment could be better used elsewhere and that advances in DNA testing help avoid wrongful convictions.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    of 3

    by committing a murder, I mean knowingly and willingly taking someone's life for no

    legal or defensive reason


    December 7, 1984 kidnapped, raped, and murdered a 9-year-old Springfield, Oregon
    girl. He had been convicted of murder once before in Texas, but not executed.
    Consider the family and friend of a victim, they actually can't feel completely safe
    knowing that the person stole the life of someone they care about is sleeping
    somewhere else
    Im interested in this topic because Im scared that what happened to many people and
    even families who were killed by escaped murderers or killers who simply got out of
    the prison could happen to me or to the people who I care about .
    So, in this speech, Ill provide brief history about the death penalty, then Ill discuss
    some reasons to keep the death penalty, and finally I will refute some of the popular
    arguments against death penalty.
    History of death penalty
    Eighteenth Century BC
    The first established death penalty laws was back in the Eighteenth Century B.C. in
    the code of King Hammaurabi of Babylon. And BTW this code, which called
    Hammurabi's Code, is one of the first written codes of law in recorded history, and
    this code followed the philosophy of "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth".
    Death sentences were done by many ways such as, crucifixion, boiling, beheading,
    drowning, beating to death, burning alive, and impalement.
    Tenth Century
    And specifically in Britain, hanging was the usual method of execution
    Sixteenth Century
    Followed that in the sixteenth century about 72 thousand people have been executed
    under the reign of Henry VIII
    America
    When the European came to America, they brought the practice of capital punishment.
    In 1608 was the first recorded execution in America of Captain George Kendall in the
    Jamestown colony of Virginia. And that was because he was found to be a spy for
    Spain.
    Nowadays, 33 states still have the death penalty law, and Oregon one of them. And 17
    states without the death penalty law such as New York and Illinois, which just
    recently abolished it. However the federal government still uses the death penalty, so
    the entire U.S use it for federal crimes.
    lethal injection - currently the most common form of execution

    Reasons to keep the death penalty


    Lowers the crimes rate
    Its just common sense, If a murderer know that if he kills he will be punished by the
    most severe punishment which is killing him, he will think a thousand time before he
    commit his crime.
    According to professor Isaac Ehrlich, each additional execution prevents about seven
    or eight people from committing murder.
    (2003) Clemson U. Professor Shepherd found that each execution results, on average,
    in five fewer murders.
    Protect innocent people
    There are many cases in which convicts have committed more murders after being
    released. Today I tried to find how many convicts commit another crimes after
    releasing them or by escaping from the prison and I was shocked by the huge list that
    I saw. Some of them escape to kill a whole family including children and infants.
    And I was like, how many chances are these criminals given?! They dont care about
    others lives so why do we care about their lives.
    The prisoners that are in prison for crimes other than murder should feel safe
    And actually its not just murderers who get out of the prison, some of them are even
    terrifying inside the boarder of prisons. There are many murders that happen behind
    the bars simply because a murderer will spend the rest of his life in prison and thinks
    that he has nothing to lose.
    For example have anyone heard of Aryan Brotherhood? Its a gang that consist of
    about 300 members inside prison and thousand of associates out of prison. Can you
    imagine that this one gang is responsible for more than 20% of the murder cases that
    happen inside prison. All that power that this gang have got because none of the most
    powerful leaders received a death sentence.
    All those reasons bring us to one big reason to keep the death penalty is to
    accomplish justice.
    Everyone has the right in safe environment and thats in this case by deterring
    murderers using the capital punishment law.
    Refute arguments against death penalty
    Some people might say it costs far more to execute a person than to keep him or her in
    prison for life would you prefer to put these money to execute murderers and make
    a safe environment or to feed them and giving them the chance to possibly kill other
    innocent people. Why should resources be wasted to keep a person who doesnt care
    about the sanctity of human life alive?
    And anyway I wonder how people talk about money in such cases related to people
    lives.

    Opponent of death penalty also might argue that in many cases innocent people are
    accused with false crimes. However, new technology (DNA testing) allows a greater
    assurance that a mistake won't be made in convicting a person of the death penalty.

    in conclusion, the death penalty should be fully legalized, for justice, for victims and
    their families and to send out a clear message to all people who believe they can get
    away with their crimes

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