Due to the amount of appeals and thorough investigation of each case, no piece of evidence is overlooked for the benefit of the defendant. Unless there is strong criminating evidence and the court is certain the accused is guilty, the death penalty would not be issued. For the 2,293,157 behind bars in our country the miniscule 3,220 on death row is unlikely to contain innocents due to their case being examined extensively. If one innocent man was wrongfully put to death by the state, should we abolish the death penalty? This argument can be compared to if a police officer shoots an innocent man, the country should purge police officers of their weapons.
The two individuals that are on opposite sides of the death penalty are Edward Koch and David Bruck. The mayor Edward Koch believes that the death penalty is necessity for todays society. David Koch is saying that the death penalty is another form of murder. If someone were to kill another person, the authorities have all the rights to sentence them to death and to guarantee such a horrific crime would not happen again. Mayor Edward Koch claims that to help the penalty for murder would be a huge insult to the victims, other than David Bruck correctly argues that justice is not served by creating another victim accountable for the things that he or she have done.
Prison time is an effective deterrent to a point, with some people more time is needed. Prosecutors should have the option of using a variety of punishments in order to minimize crime. The most fundamental principle of justice is that the punishment should fit the crime. When someone plans and brutally murders another person, it would seem that justice would be better served if they too were killed as they had planned to kill another human being. Our justice system shows more sympathy for criminals than it does victims and this should be altered.
The people that Shelton killed are considered combatants because they support they governmental system and work with it. Based on Just War Theory, the proportionality of killing these people is that their deaths are outweighed by the justice that will bring to the judicial system. Shelton believes the system to be corrupt, focusing instead on conviction rates rather than making sure the right person is placed behind bars. By killing these people Shelton can put a new mindset into the “system” because those affected by the killings will want the right man punished rather since they now know how it feels to be wronged. All the killings made by Shelton were to people who were directly showed how flawed the system was.
But in contrast there are very different at the same time. The crime control model is used in the criminal justice system for the prevention of crime. The crime control does not exclude that is possible to make a mistake, but based on the circumstances of the laws, the person is considered guilty until her or she is proven innocent. This model is based on old fashion laws which allow rapid and speedy convictions despite the mitigating factors of the case and the victim. The results, of the crime control model are wrongful convictions, being over-turned and this is a major downfall in the criminal justice system.
I feel it adversely is shown and sought out to enhance the value of human life by demonstrating the old saying “an eye for an eye.” If government were to lower the penalty of murder it would portray that the victims’ loss of life was less significant than that of the murderer. Some opponents feel that a life sentence in prison is a far worse punishment than death. If this is true, then why do so many convicted prisoners put on death row try to appeal and get a lesser sentence? These prisoners who committed the same act outside prison walls are now facing death with no alternative, as their victim had, and aren’t ready to answer to the consequences. In the case of Stephanie Benton, I saw this with my own eyes.
Eonia Hutchins 9/20/13 Death Penalty Room 226 Death penalty is a punishment for a person who committed a crime. However capital crimes and capital offenses will lead people getting the death sentence, which is basically an execution. Most people believe in the death penalty, while others don’t. I strongly don’t agree with these cruel punishments to kill people. Therefore I don’t think a person who committed a very brutal crime doesn’t deserve to die.
Is the death penalty unjust? Blackmun is opposing towards the death penalty. He claims that there is many faults in the system. Therfore thay should not be allowed to decide whether one should be kiiled on their commited crimes. In contrast to Scalia I think he has good points but he needs a better argument than the judical system has faults.
Institutionalizing the notion of revenge and to have it be a goal that society pursues through the criminal justice system offends the ideals of many. This ethical dilemma is most apparent in the death penalty debate. Arguably, there is no real reason for inflicting the death penalty other than society's need for retribution, as incarcerating that same individual for a life sentence without the possibility of parole will effectively incapacitate them and protect society from his criminal behavior. But the desire for retaliation dates back to ancient times, where the Hammurabi Code essentially necessitated "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," which is reflected by the punitive goals of our modern criminal justice system. The ethical debate between those who view retribution as a natural goal of justice and those who feel that state-sanctioned revenge has no place in modern society will continue, particularly as it relates to the death penalty
I do not believe this to be true, I believe that long-term imprisonment is what criminals are not afraid of. It is said that the death penalty encourages and legitimizes unlawful killing. But let’s think about it “murder, is unlawful and undeserved while the death penalty is lawful and deserved for unlawful act.” Imprisonment will never be a harsh enough punishment because they live off of our taxes, and it is sad to say that we are paying to keep these criminals alive. But most religious people will argue that capital punishment is breaking one of the Ten Commandments but the bible also says that “it is an eye for an eye.” That statement does not mean that when a person does something to you, you do it back but God put rules and people on this earth and gave them choices to make and I feel that if you truly love your brothers and sisters within this world the death sentence is appropriate because your are keeping them from hurting any other people. So many non-supporters of the death penalty say they are against it because of racial discrimination, or how it treats humans as like animal, or that it is cruel and unusual, or that retribution is another word for revenge and therefore they believe that life imprisonment is a just enough punishment.