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Capital Punishment is an Unlawful and Ineffective Deterrent to Murder


The United States is one of the few countries left in the world to practice the

savage and immoral punishment of death. Retentionists argue that the consequence of

death prevents people from committing the crime of murder. It is proven that the death

penalty does not deter persons from committing murder, nor does it serve as an example

of the consequences of capital crimes to society. Furthermore, it is impossible to

guarantee that the criminal justice system will not discriminate against or execute the

innocent. Above all, the methods of execution are horrifying and barbaric, as well as the

devaluing of a human life. We must realize that the life of a murderer is worth as much as

the life of the victim. An indecent justice, one that takes human lives based on ideals of

vengeance and violence, is an immoral system that is unacceptable.


The most widely used argument in support of capital punishment is that the

consequence of execution influences criminal behavior more effectively than

imprisonment does ("Against the Death Penalty"). Although the argument may sound

reasonable, in reality the death penalty fails as a deterrent. First, punishment can only be a

useful deterrent if it is rational and immediately used. Capital punishment cannot meet

those conditions. The number of first degree murderers who are sentenced to death is

small, and of this group an even smaller number of people are eventually executed.

Moreover, the possibility of increasing the number of convicted murderers sentenced to

death and executed by requiring mandatory death sentences was declared...