Private vs. Public Executions The majority of countries around the world practice some sort of capital punishment. Naturally, the punishment varies from place to place, as does the degree of crimes resulting in such. Most places do, however, have some sort of capital punishment system in place for what they deem as their most appalling crimes. Here in America, we do have the death penalty in most states, as it is not imposed by federal law for all states to enforce it. The reason for this is that not all states can agree on whether or not capital punishment is criminal in and of itself.
Since the capital punishment is still carry on, many opponents and defenders of the death penalty appeal to the sanctity of life. However, the death penalty is not justified. This is because death penalty is not an effective crime deterrent, executed innocent people and it needs a higher cost to carry on. First of all, some opponents argue that death penalty can help deter crime and protect public. For instance, the criminal will think twice before killing for fear of receive the strongest punishment.
Including but not limited to those of religious, race, and sexual orientation. The greatest portion of the remainder were hate crimes based on ethnicity or nationality. When a hate crime is committed, it sends a message to the targeted individual and community as a whole, so that they are aware they are unwelcomed, fearful, unaccepted. The damage done to the heart of the community, will affect the community brutally. Once a message is sent, hate crime is committed, and it has not only hurt the target but the community as well, the message is considered
In some states, the individual must be convicted of two serious felonies for the three strikes law to apply, while in others any felonies count towards the third strike. Critics of the three strike law express many strong arguments against their harsh legal statute. Our society has ultimately had an issue with the three strikes law. Some people have said that the law “destroys the flexibility of the courts and the judge, it is unjust in certain conditions, and it adds more criminals to an already crowded and expensive criminal system”
Crime is around every corner and has been a part of the world throughout history, crime will never become extinct. Whether a person speeds in a vehicle or murders another human being, they are crimes and there are consequences for every crime. The most heinous crime is murder against another person. To the whole world it is wrong except for certain circumstances. Even though the accused are thought to be evil they like everyone else have constitutional rights before they are arrested.
Shalom wonders what this is saying about our current system that is in force (10). The author reveals that murderers that are unable to pay for their defense are more likely to be sentenced to death then those who are capable of getting a lawyer. Former Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall says that “the burden of capital punishment falls upon the poor, the ignorant, and the underprivileged members of society” (11). Shalom concludes that the United States is not the only country that is continuing to practice capital punishment. The other countries are considered to be far from world leaders in human rights.
Gun Control There is a terrifying, indisputable lack of firearms control in America. This is one of the most debated issues today, however the way American people approaches this problem is as negligent as criminals. The aberration that surrounds this issue is misuse and misinterpretation of the Second Amendment. Often enough, the argument boils down to the Second Amendment which states citizens have the right to bear arms which has resulted in the crime rates and murders to skyrocketing because the people who commit these crimes have control of firearms. Could the Founding Fathers of this powerful country have remotely come close to envision our society in which teenagers could normally walk into a class room, pull out a loaded gun and murder
The death penalty is a very sensitive subject and with it comes different pros and cons. The argument most often discussed in support of capital punishment is that the threat of executions deters capital crimes more effectively than imprisonment. This claim is plausible, but the facts do not support it. The death penalty fails as a deterrent for several reasons. One reason is that any punishment can be an effective deterrent only if it is consistently and promptly employed.
Over time the death penalty could cost well over one million dollars more than life-in-prison cases. For one person to be put to death it would take at least up to $500,00 for one inmate. This is absolutely absurd amount to end another person’s life when they could spend their entire life in jail with the guilt. (“What Costs More the Death Penalty or Life in Prison?” Home - NBC Right Now/KNDO/KNDU Tri-Cities, Yakima, WA, NBC, 21 Sept. 2011, www.nbcrightnow.com/story/15519792/what-costs-more-the-death-penalty-or-life-in-prison.) This money could be invested into each and every school nationwide.
In the following lines, I will try to explain who has the power in our society to take those decisions, in which circumstances it is okay to take the decision yourself, and why I find it so hard to take it myself. In our society, the decision to kill somebody to save someone else, wether it might be because the life is more important or the number of lives is higher, is given to public authorities like the army, the police, the secret service or the government. It is a decision with great responsibility which probably will weight heavily on you for the rest of your life. Taking for example the attacks on september 11th, the army had the order to shoot down every plane in sight of the the White House, taking into account the civil lives who would be harmed by that kind of action. Now there are some circumstances, where civil people, people like you and me, might be confronted with such ethical problems in everyday life.