Free Essays, Term Papers, Research Papers at Anti Essays

Assignment: Supporting a Position
My position: I believe death penalty is beneficial for the society and US should continue to use capital punishment
Capital punishment
According to US Government Guide “The penalty of death for a person convicted of a serious crime, such as intentional murder, is called capital punishment. Current methods of carrying out capital punishment in the United States are electrocution, firing squad, hanging, poison gas, and lethal injection. The use of lethal injection has become the most common way of carrying out the death penalty in the United States; it is the method used in 17 states”.
Capital punishment is a controversial sentence and people have different feelings about it, but I believe that death penalty is beneficial for the society and US should continue to use capital punishment. The following are benefits of capital punishment in support of my argument.
Public safety
If a person is guilty of a serious crime (murder), the justice must be served and that person should be executed. Placing such criminals in prison is not a harsh enough punishment; they would have the chance to be free again because of possible early parole. Sentencing these criminals to death insures peace of mind and it helps the victim’s family and society to know one less murderer is out in the street.
Deterrence
“Deterrence is the act or process of discouraging and preventing an action from occurring” (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary)
I believe that the punishment for crimes must be harsh enough to prevent the potential criminals. If the death penalty were carried out more, criminals would think twice before committing murder knowing that the cost is large enough and their lives was at risk. Another way that the death penalty prevents murder is that when the killer is sentenced to death, he will not be able to kill again.
Less crowded prisons
...