ktmeng/mec huggingface dataset:
Topic: death-penalty

To those who maintain the deterrence argument while defending the death penalty, it is important to show that there are no facts supporting the belief that the ultimate punishment should scare anybody not to commit a crime. On the contrary, the statistics show that severe crimes, even murders, are even more frequent in states where the death penalty is practised. (7) It seems that, instead of preventing from killing, the pure fact that society itself kills human beings contributes to a dangerous devaluation of human valour. The effect is that more serious crimes are committed.
Topic: death-penalty

The death penalty or capital punishment is a punishment by death against criminals who commit capital crimes against the society. The death penalty has been around for as long as the 18th century and the death Penalty in the Philippines has different history and is currently suspended as of 2006. With that history, it is very popular with the majority of Filipinos. Maybe it feeds the human to feel scared in doing crimes but Filipinos have mixed opinions about the death penalty, with many opposing it on religious and humanitarian grounds, while some advocates see it as a way of deterring crimes.
Topic: death-penalty

Death penalty is also very popular politically and provides a way for politicians to show that they are fighting against crime here in the Philippines. Some people believe that death penalty is effective mechanism for crime deterrence but I, personally would characterize the public opinion on the death penalty as being an uninformed opinion. For me, people are not well informed on the real situations and statistics of the death penalty, like the number of prisoners, or the racial discrimination in the United States or in Canada, for example.
Topic: death-penalty

During 2001 Canada had 554 homicides which are 23% lower than the number of homicides committed before the abolition of the death penalty. If the death penalty was a deterrent, why would there have been 167 more homicides committed when Canada had enforced the death penalty. During 1999 there were 5.7 million homicides per 100, 000 people, while the homicide rate was three times lower than the United States, with a homicide rate of only 1.8 homicides per 100, 000 people (Death Penalty Info). According to my research, since abolishing the death penalty in Canada last 1976, Canada’s murder rate has steadily declined and as of 2016 was at its lowest since 1966.
Topic: death-penalty

The death penalty has been considered to be one of the most cruel and unusual punishments for sentencing criminals. I do not believe that the death penalty should exist, even when the wicked crimes have been committed. The death penalty will always be a debatable topic because no one should have the right to decide who should live or who should die for life. Death Penalty as a way of deterring crimes it’s not right because how far can this punishment go, should the government have rights to kill someone if a person kills people or does anyone have the right to sentence a person to the death penalty even if they stole bread because they are hungry. The death penalty may limit crime, but it is not a positive form of punishment. Death penalty will be violating citizen’s right. The life of one person is put into another person’s hands to determine that they deserve to die or not based on a punishment given to them.
Topic: death-penalty

The Philippines is currently not ready for death penalty. Our judiciary system, sadly, is anti-poor. As what we can see in our society, poor people get imprisoned, while rich people get away. They simply fly to other country without extradition treaty with the Philippines or bribe officials while the poor don’t have a choice. Death penalty is also against our constitution and our rights as a human being.. The death penalty is unjust and morally wrong. When someone murders someone else, the correct punishment to it is not to murder him or her, but to try and help them. For me, it is just a quick death and a quick punishment. Lifetime imprisonment is better than death penalty because they have to spend their life behind bars and suffer loss of freedom and loneliness. Maybe in that way they will learn of what they have done to the victim of their crimes. Sometimes the justice systems of the Philippines are not fair because for instance there is always a possibility that the person that will be punished by the death penalty is innocent.
Topic: death-penalty

In New Delhi 16, december 2012 in Munirika a neighbourhood in South Delhi Nirbhaya was raped. She was 23 years old and a physiotherapist intern. She was travelling in a private bus along with her friend she was beaten and raped in bus by four men. These four victims were Akshay Thakur, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Mukesh Singh they were sentenced to death in the court in 2013. There were six people who were arrested and the named Ram Singh had committed sucide in the jail itself.
Topic: death-penalty

The Telangana police had found that the girl had parked her scooter near the toll plaza. The two lorry men were starring along with their assistants. The police had found that they had punchered her tire and had claimed to help her. Then they pushed her to the bushes and then raped her. Then they had carried kept her dead body on the lorry and pushed her on the roadside. The police men had arrested the victims with the help of cctv camera and had traced the victims phone.
Topic: death-penalty

An 8 years old girl was gang- raped repeatedly inside a village temple, she was kept sedated for hours, and was raped again and again just before she was killed in Jammu Kashmir , Kathua by six men, including the one who had come to Meerut. It was more shocking that the priest of the small temple was the main hero in the crime. The 2 police officers also joined him in the rape. The priest had called his nephew from Meerut to satisy his lust. The girl was killed in the forest and the priest nephew had beaten her stones and decided to throw her body in the forest. There were two police men who had charge certain amount to destroy the rape evidence. The girl’s body was found in forest near her village on January 17.
Topic: death-penalty

A five year old girl was raped in New Delhi in 2013. Two men Manoj Shah and Pradeep Kumar were accussed of kidnapping and brutually rapping her. This incident took place after for months of Nirbhaya’s case. She was found two days later, tied in the basement of East Delhi house she lived in with candles and bottles in her private parts. The child was rescued after 40 hours on April17, 2013. The trial was completed in two years and finally justice was served to Gudiya claimed as claimed by her parents.
Topic: death-penalty

A 16 year old in Delhi by BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar. When the girl’s family went to police station police refused to file FIR. There was a fight between Girl’s family and MLA’s family in which girl’s father was beaten up. There were two complaints buts police did not listen to the girl family and arrested girl’s father and put him behind bars. On April 8, 2018 the girl commits suicide outside Chief Yogi Adityanath house in Lucknow, accusing him of sheiding the minister. Then the girl’s father committed suicide and died in district hospital where he had been brought on previous night as he was vomiting and had abdominal injuries. The UP government handed the case to CBI.
Topic: death-penalty

In my opinion death penalty should not be given because just by hanging the rapist to death the justice would not be served to the girl who has been raped. Beside providing death penalty the rapes are taking place in our country. So why to give easy death to the rapist? As the girl who has died is not gonna come back and her family is suffering in her absence. So the same thing can be done for the rapist family he can be given life imprisonment so like how the the girl’s family suffered the same thing would be felt in the rapist family. And there might be cases in which rapist has realised his mistake and is ready to do some social work till his life time. This are some incentives that could help him to come of his guilt. And there are even some rapist who are under age and had committed such crimes like in Kathua case. In Nirbhaya’s case one rapist who was sent to other city as he worked as cook in some restaurant as he was not of a particular age and the court had thought of giving him a chance.
Topic: death-penalty

The Death penalty, a capital punishment given by the government as a repercussion for a serious crime. First laws established in 1608, until this day in age which has given people time to decide if that’s a inhumane action to torture criminals. One of the most treacherous criminals that deserve the death penalty is named Richard Kuklinski. This cold hearted monster has killed roughly 250 people during his time with the mafia. When he would execute a person, Kuklinski never felt remorse or had any emotion toward the action.
Topic: death-penalty

Richard Kuklinski, the most notorious criminal of all times killed roughly 250 people Including innocent people and “rats” doing dirty work. He showed signs of abuse at a early age when he would kill cats and tie their tails together. Kuklinski committed his first crime at the age of thirteen. His first victim was Charlie Lane also known as his bully. Little did Kuklinski know that this was the first of many murders he was going to commit throughout his life. One of Kuklinski’s victim was Paul Hoffman. Both of the men met at a warehouse since Paul owed money for drugs.
Topic: death-penalty

Kuklinski had put cyanide in his hamburger and later strangled Smith with a cord. In a interview he claimed that one of his favorite methods was cyanide because it was “hard to detect on toxicology test and it would kill the person fast” (HBO). One of his famous murders was a man called Louis Masgay. He was shot in the head and was put in a freezer for 2 years until the body was dumped. Kuklinski used the freezer method a couple times and that’s how he got the name “Ice Man”. These are three of the five homicide he got convicted for and serving a life sentence.
Topic: death-penalty

Cold hearted, heartless, and inhumane are all the words that describe one of the worst person the world has seen, Richard Kuklinski THE ICE MAN. He has never felt any pain, sadness or even a rush when committing a execution. He was just like the corpse he would hide in his freezers. Cold, pale, and dead inside. He did in fact say “sex is my only adrenaline rush” (HBO) that was the only thing that gave him a rush. And of course, his kids and wife were the things that made him actually seem like a half decent person with some kind of feelings towards a human. Kuklinski made killing so normal for him that he wouldn’t feel like anything happened. “it doesn’t bother me. It doesn’t bother me at all. I don’t have a feeling one way or another.” (HBO) He may have had no remorse for all the men that he killed, Kuklinski did have two rules. No children, and no women EVER. Now people may ask. Why would someone go around killing people and have no care or emotion In the world? Well, nobody knows exactly.
Topic: death-penalty

The death penalty also called as Capital Punishment is one of the legal process in which a person is punished and put to death for a crime by the state. It is considered as the ultimate denial of the human rights. If a person is punished in this manner, a death sentence is a judicial decree, whereas Execution is the real process of the cause of death of the person. This degrading, inhuman and cruel punishment is being done in name of justice.
Topic: death-penalty

Capital offenses or we can say that capital crimes are the crimes which results in death penalty. Crime is an obvious part of the society. Death penalty had been practiced by many societies; currently it is practiced by around 58 nations and has been abolished by 97 countries. Execution of criminals i.e. a person who executes criminals by order of the law and the political opponents are being used by all the societies- both to punish the crime and also to suppress the political dissent. In most of the places where capital punishment is practiced it is restricted for various purposes like treason, murder, part of military justice or as espionage. In some of the countries sexual crimes like adultery, sodomy, rape and incest carries death penalty while in Islamic nations religious crimes like apostasy carry death penalty. In most of the countries that uses the death penalty, drug trafficking is also considered as a capital offense. In china, some of the serious cases of corruption as well as human trafficking are suffered for wrong doing by death penalty. In all the cases death penalty is opposed by Amnesty International without exception regardless of forming part of offender, nature of crime or the method which is used by the state to put a prisoner to death. Capital punishment has proved to have good benefits in order to determine the consequences which the criminals deserve in the country. This is required to make certain the moral values and safety of the society, then there will be no need of the expenses that are involved in death penalty.
Topic: death-penalty

Death penalty was set up as a punishment for people who committed crimes. The king of Babylon, Hammurabi in 18th century BC put into the form of a code the death penalty for almost 25 different crimes and murder was not included in them. In 16th century BC Egypt, the first death sentence occurred which was historically recorded where the wrongdoer was ordered to take his own life. Hittite code also practiced death penalty in 14th century BC. Death was made the penalty by Draconian code of Athens in 7th century BC for every crime which was committed. In 5th century death penalty was codified by the Roman Law.
Topic: death-penalty

A large number of countries round the world had given up the use of death penalty, but the consensus has not been formed by the world against the use of death penalty. Every year thousands of people are executed in China, which is the most popular country in the world and it is used regularly by the most powerful country, the US. The use of capital punishment is retained by eighty four countries in the world. The use of death penalty is declining in most of the countries and will be abandoned soon.
Topic: death-penalty

Islam accepts death penalty. The main point to note is that life is taken by the people by the way of justice and law. In Islam, death penalty is put into practice by the court as punishment for creating serious crimes. But ultimately it is believed that external punishment is in almighty’s hand. According to the Islamic penal code, the non- physical, immaterial part of man, the soul, the immortal part of man which feels and thinks is to save life’s, prevent corruption and promote justice. Islamic philosophy holds a view that severe and cruel punishment should be given to the one who commit serious crimes, damages the individual victims, or utter a threat to destabilize foundation of the society. International murder and Fasad fil-ardh (which means to spread mischief in land) are the two crimes according to the Islamic law which are to be punishable by death.
Topic: death-penalty

During the last few decades many studies have sought to find out whether death penalty has doubtful effector deterrent effect on the homicides rates. Researchers have found out the conclusions very widely. It is being concluded that a statement of an intention to punish or hurt deters murders, saving number of people whereas other studies concluded that there is an increase in homicides due to executions. Most of the people believe that there is no effect due to executions on murder rates. It is being concluded from the new report on Law and Justice from the committee i.e. the Death Penalty and the National Research Council Report Deterrence that research on effect of capital punishment on the homicide rates is useless to determine whether there is increase in death penalty, decrease in death penalty or has no effect on these rates. The major question arises whether capital punishment is more or less effective as a cause rather than the punishments like life without possibility of parole is considered as sensible alternative to death penalty. Simply death penalty is society’s way of concluding that an individual has a
Topic: death-penalty

However there is no evidence to prove this, in states where the death penalty has been abolished, the crime rate is usually the same as where the death penalty is still implemented. This is as often criminals rare under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, or the perpetrator is not in rational control, or they are hit-men doing contract killings and typically never expect to be arrested, or psychopaths and other mentally ill individuals who have little regard for human life and who are unable to accept responsibility for their actions or the criminal commits crime on a spur of the moment and just doesn’t have time to weigh their options.
Topic: death-penalty

There is another misconception that the death penalty is cheaper to implement than keeping a criminal in a correctional facility for long periods of time, however oddly the reality turns out to be quite the opposite as the option of keeping a criminal in a correctional institute is actually cheaper than executing them. Capital cases cost more from the start because case law mandates that a defendant facing a possible death sentence is entitled to two attorneys rather than just one. Most capital defendants are however poverty-stricken which means this cost is absorbed by the state. Capital defendants are entitled also to representation by relevant experts in their cases (investigators, mitigation specialists, psychologists, etc.) all paid for by the state. Trials involving the death penalty usually last longer than trials not involving the death penalty. Additionally, and probably more important with respect to driving costs up, there is the appeals process. This is put into place to try to avoid executing an innocent person, but these attorneys cost even more than trial attorneys because of their specific expertise. Finally, the costs of supervision on high security death row while appeals proceed outweighs the costs of supervision in general population. In the United States tax payers have paid $37.2 million for each of execution.
Topic: death-penalty

Everyone has a right to live; this phrase is present in the constitution of every country. Even someone who has committed horrific murders cannot be forfeited of this right. Even though there is the counter argument for this that people who have taken other lives must forgo this right They believe that the value of the offender’s life cannot be destroyed by the offender’s bad conduct. Some abolitionists don’t go that far. They say that life should be preserved at all costs, and that those who are in favor of capital punishment are the ones who have to justify their position. Every human being is entitled to receive a second chance in life. Putting a convict behind bars is always a logical option than killing him, as there is a chance that he may improve. People who have served life sentences are reported to have bettered their earlier ways of living and have made worthwhile contribution to the society. Also capital punishment puts great amounts of strain on the person who is receiving the capital punishment, the person who is killing the perpetrator of crimes, the victim who must watch the criminal be executed and the person who has sentenced the criminal to the death penalty and all their loved ones.
Topic: death-penalty

Many people believe that retribution is morally flawed and problematic in concept and practice. The government cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing. To take a life when a life has been lost is revenge, not justice. When a government sentences a murderer to be murdered, it brutalizes the law, it brutalizes the state and it stoops down low to the level of the felon, it does to the crook what the crook did to the victim. The argument to this is that it does offer closure to the victims and their families however when one loses a family member to violence, such a loss cannot be replaced, cannot be “closed.” Secondly, when murder victims’ family members are interviewed after executions, they frequently comment on it as being “easy” and or that the criminal “did not suffer enough.” In fact it does seem unfair to the victims or their families that they were subjected to so much violence and torture by their attacker while he or she gets a “white” “clean” “sterile” death. And also consider the families of the person being executed they are being put through trauma for no fault of theirs. And many cases have been recorded where even when the criminal sincerely apologizes his apologies are only met with bitterness. So when the government sentences a murderer to capital punishment it is doing to the criminal what the criminal did to the victims and that is the very definition of revenge.
Topic: death-penalty

Many methods of execution are quite obviously likely to cause enormous suffering, such as execution by lethal gas, electrocution or strangulation. Today the most common forms of execution are beheading, electrocuting, toxic gas, hanging, lethal injection and shooting and obviously all these are extremely traumatic and painful to undergo and perform. Many countries that use capital punishment have now adopted lethal injection, because it’s thought to be less cruel for the offender and less brutalizing for the executioner. However this method has serious moral flaws, it requires medical personnel being directly involved in killing, and this is a direct breach of medical ethics. The second flaw is that research in April 2005 showed that lethal injection is not nearly as ‘humane’ as had been thought as post mortem findings indicated that levels of anesthetic found in offenders were consistent with insomnia and the ability to experience pain concluding that they went through enormous amounts of pain.
Topic: death-penalty

In places where the death penalty is instated it used rather inconsistently with a huge difference in the number of white people executed and the number of other ethnic groups executed. A study in the state of Ohio confirmed this. The study showed that: Offenders facing a death penalty charge for killing a white person were twice more likely to go to death row than if they had killed a black victim. Death sentences were handed down in 18 percent of cases where the victims were white compared with 8.5 percent of cases where victims were black. Also people who are poverty-stricken are much more likely to get the death sentence. This is as they often would not be able to afford good lawyers and instead get state appointed lawyers, state appointed lawyer are underpaid, overworked and often the least qualified, there are even cases where the state appointed lawyer did not even know the defendant’s name it is no wonder that most of their clients get much heavier sentence whether they are guilty or innocent. A example; Serial killers such as the infamous Gary Ridgway in Seattle who admitted killing 48 prostitutes and runaways got life in prison. A nurse in who admitted killing 17 people got life. Meanwhile, mentally ill and impoverished murderers who could not afford good lawyers and did not receive much media attention were given the death penalty. In Alabama, David Hocker was executed after a one-day trial as his mental illness was not sufficiently described to the jury. Alabama also executed a 74-year-old man who had been on death row for 27 years and was beset by medical problems which would have probably soon caused his death by natural means: cancer, high blood pressure and the early stages of Alzheimer’s. In Texas, a man with schizophrenia was executed even after the Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended clemency after learning of his time spent in mental hospitals and his unintelligible rambling.
Topic: death-penalty

Circumstantial evidence: Often in a rush to finish sentencing the accused and closing the case, circumstantial evidence is used (the logic is “Post hoc ergo propter hoc”). For example if the crime scene has a footprint of the same shoe owned by accused and the bullet used was a .22 calibre which is also the same type of bullets in possession of the accused then the victim is found guilty, this is an only extreme form of chance and should not be used for a conviction.
Topic: death-penalty

Flaws in the system: Witnesses, (where they are part of the process), prosecutors and jurors can all make mistakes. When this is coupled with flaws in the system it is inevitable that innocent people will be convicted of crimes. Where capital punishment is used such mistakes cannot be put right. A person who has been given a large sentence or even a life sentence can be compensated however a person who has been wrongfully executed can never be compensated. The death penalty legitimizes an irreversible act of violence by the state and will inevitably claim innocent victims. As long as human justice remains imperfect, the risk of executing the innocent can never be eliminated.
Topic: death-penalty

The death penalty is something courts do not understand and certainly do not know how to use. It is unethical and gives very few people too much power. Capital punishment must be abolished as once it is used it can never be undone or compensated for. There will always be flaws in government systems and no matter how finely the “net” is woven there will always be people who fall through it, except from this “net” there is no coming back.
Topic: death-penalty

Capital punishment, which some also call the death penalty, has been around in society for hundreds of years. Ever since it began, there have been discussions as to whether it is morally right, and as to whether it actually deters criminals. Some believe that the prospect of being put to death often stops criminals from committing violent acts. Others believe exactly the opposite, stating that those that commit violent crimes are driven to do so for various reasons, and whether they have the chance of being put to death or not will not stop them from doing what they feel they must do.
Topic: death-penalty

On one side of the debate, there are those that believe that killing is morally and ethically wrong, whether it is the killer and his victims or the government and the killer. The ethical dilemmas that are faced by this issue are not designed to be discussed here. They are important and worthy of discussion and thought, but the scope of this paper does not allow for space to debate the ethical issues that involve the death penalty as it pertains to violent individuals and their reasons for their actions.
Topic: death-penalty

The purpose of this paper is to leave those issues aside and determine whether there is a basis of truth in the statement that capital punishment deters violent crime. This statement is used by many who believe in the death penalty, and they argue that these criminals will not be able to do any more harm, which is certainly true, and not a question for debate. What is debatable, however, is whether the idea of the death penalty affects those that might commit violent crimes, and whether it stops them from doing so. There are many that believe this, and others that insist that there is little to no effect.
Topic: death-penalty

Both sides of the argument will be addressed here, so that conclusions can be drawn from the information presented that will hopefully shed some light on the debate and determine which side is correct. There is, however, seemingly much more information available that is against the death penalty than for it. It is also possible that a determination will not be able to be made due to the fact that there are so many issues and beliefs that surround each side, and statistics can be made to show many things, depending on who is utilizing them and how the numbers are manipulated. It is for this reason that statistics will not play a large role in the scope of this paper, as numbers often vary.
Topic: death-penalty

Those that argue for the death penalty state that, not only does it keep the person in question from committing any more violent acts, but it also serves as a lesson for those that are considering these types of acts in the future. It is not only the United States that has this problem, as many other countries are also concerned about crime rates (Bedau, 1998). In some other countries there are people that feel that doing away with the death penalty offers no deterrent for those that would rape and murder innocent people for some reason, or sometimes for no real reason at all (Bayat, 1999).
Topic: death-penalty

It is believed that the criminal element that is aware of the death penalty will spend more time considering whether the act they are thinking of committing is worth the price that they might ultimately have to pay (Delfino & Day, 2008). The opinion is that many criminals will feel that risking their life for the violent act is not worth the price, and they will refrain from committing these kinds of crimes. Few people, even criminals, have a death wish, and it is believed that this lack of desire for their own death will keep them from causing the deaths of others (Delfino & Day, 2008). Despite opposition from those that believe the death penalty should be stopped, some statistics do show that the number of murders does rise when the death penalty is not in force, and this number falls when the death penalty is reinstated (Johansen, 1998).
Topic: death-penalty

Another point of this argument is that the death penalty brings closure for the victims of the families that have lost loved ones. There is apparently a satisfaction, at least for some, upon seeing these people give up their life at the hands of the government. The chapter of their lives that dealt with that person has come to an end, and they can finally feel that they can move on with their lives (Radelet & Akers, 1996). This is somewhat related to violent crime, in that there is always the possibility that survivors who have lost loved ones would consider taking their vengeance out on others because of their pain and sorrow, and this could lead to even more violent crimes. Violent criminals that are paroled also run the risk of being killed by those that know what they did and believe that they should have died. This creates more violent acts in society and more problems with how to punish these individuals. Having the death penalty for violent crimes often prevents this.
Topic: death-penalty

There are many different arguments against the death penalty, and some of these come from law enforcement. Recent polls of police chiefs in various areas of the country indicate that a large majority of them believe that the death penalty is no deterrent to violent crime. It ranks last on their lists of how they should go about reducing violent crime, and studies have shown that it is no better at reducing crime than the possibility of life in prison without any chance of parole (Cook, 1999). This is interesting, in the face of the argument that the death penalty reduces the amount of violent crimes that are committed. Studies have also shown that, contrary to the popular opinion that the death penalty brings closure, most people do not feel that watching someone else die helps them to move on in any way (Cassell & Bedau, 2005). Sometimes it seems to profane the name of the lost loved one by associating yet another death with it. The death of the loved one is painful enough without adding to it (Cook, 1999).
Topic: death-penalty

There are several effective arguments against the death penalty, including the fact that some people have been executed, and the government has later discovered their innocence. There is not much to be done at that point, and instead of deterring violent crime, it makes the death penalty seem unjust and unfair. It also draws into question once again whether the death penalty is such a good idea, since it can sometimes be used incorrectly and innocent people are made to suffer for the mistakes of the police, prosecutors, and government (Rivkind & Shatz, 2005). It would seem that many criminals would find this more amusing than frightening. They do not take their chances of being caught and subjected to the death penalty seriously enough to be frightened by the penalty like many assume they will be (van den Haag, 2001).
Topic: death-penalty

According to some that believe in God and feel that the death penalty is acceptable under the scriptures, make one main point, which is that “This is not an issue that may be measured accurately in terms of statistics. No one can ever know how many potential murderers have refrained from taking human life due to their fear of prosecution, conviction, and ultimate execution” (Jackson, 2003). It is also questioned during this same argument that those who conclude that the death penalty is not a deterrent to violent crime should also be able to conclude that prison is not a deterrent either, since people seem to keep committing crimes, whether or not they think they will go to jail.
Topic: death-penalty

Another concern over the death penalty and violent crime is the issue of the mentally handicapped (Banner, 2003). They, along with juveniles, also commit violent crimes on occasion. These mentally handicapped individuals, not to be confused with mentally disturbed or insane individuals, often have low IQs and do not realize what they have done. The death penalty in their cases is not any deterrent. They do not even realize what they have done. One mentally handicapped man actually asked the jailers to save his dessert for him so that he could eat it after his execution. It was clear that he did not understand what the execution was about, no more than he understood the crime that he had committed. Executing individuals like this does nothing for society. Many people find it cruel, and even if it is not, it is certainly senseless. There are no important lessons about not committing crimes that are learned by executing someone who is mentally handicapped (Reforms, 2002).
Topic: death-penalty

The same is true for juvenile offenders. Some juveniles that are convicted of violent crimes are locked away in prison until such time as they are old enough to be executed, which really does not teach juveniles anything valuable about the death penalty or avoidance of violent crime. More often than not, these juveniles are not executed, and most juveniles know that they will not receive the death penalty, even if they are tried as adults, so they are not deterred by the possibility (Radelet & Akers, 1996).
Topic: death-penalty

There are other arguments, but the most effective argument against the death penalty as a deterrent for violent crime appears to be the fact that crime has not gone down simply because the death penalty is out there (Death, 2000). States that have it do not have lower crime rates on average than states that do not have it, and that would indicate that the death penalty in and of itself is not stopping people from committing violent acts (Ikramullah, 2003).
Topic: death-penalty

Crime, including violent crime, has been with society virtually since the beginning, and it will remain with society until it ends. Nothing will stop some people from committing violent acts, and the death penalty does not appear to be the answer. Sometimes, innocent lives are lost to this process, and many times the families of the victims do not experience the kind of closure that one would hope for simply because the offender has been executed. Since it would appear that even law enforcement does not see the death penalty as an answer to the problems of crime in society, one wonders why it is allowed to continue.
Topic: death-penalty

It is possible, however, that the death penalty would be a deterrent if it were used more swiftly and more often. Many people who are sentenced to death spend years in prison appealing their conviction and appealing their sentence, and this is a large waste of taxpayer money, as well as a huge burden on the court system. Those that are guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt often wait a long time for their sentence to be carried out. Even when DNA evidence shows that they were the guilty party, the execution is still not swiftly carried out, and this allows many criminals to find some way to avoid it.
Topic: death-penalty

Instead, they end up spending their life in prison, where they get hot meals every day, are allowed to exercise, and have a bed to sleep in every night. They watch TV and read books, and this is more than many of the hungry and homeless in today’s society get. Criminals are treated better than many of these people. The criminals have lost their freedom, but they get a lot of things in return for that, and society is required to pay for them through taxes and other avenues that fund the prisons.
Topic: death-penalty

One is left to wonder why this is so, and whether the death penalty actually would work if everyone found guilty of a violent crime and proved guilty with DNA evidence and/or a confession was executed within 30 days. There would be less prison overcrowding, and appeals would not be allowed. Enacted in this way, the death penalty might be a better deterrent against violent crime, because the stakes would be much higher than they are now, and the chances of being executed would be much greater. It would give criminals more to think about when they were contemplating their violent crimes, and society (at least that part of society that supports the death penalty) would feel better about not supporting these criminals while they appealed and worked to save themselves.
Topic: death-penalty

Sparking much controversy and anxiety in the hearts of American citizens is the ethical dilemma of the death penalty. The death penalty, as a form of punishment, is given to those who commit crimes deemed by society and government as deserving the infliction of death. Termed “death penalty”, “death sentence”, and “execution”, the issue is not a newfangled idea, rather a form of punishment that actually dates back to the ancient laws of China. Actively controversial, the death penalty serves as a divider among many political ideologies, religions, and cultures.
Topic: death-penalty

Used by almost all societies, the death penalty has been the consequence of many crimes, for example, the first crimes associated with the punishment of death included: publication of libels and insulting songs, the cutting or grazing of crops planted by a farmer, the burning of a house or a stack of corn near a house, cheating by a patron of his client, perjury, making disturbances at night in the city, willful murder of a freeman or a parent, or theft by a slave (Reggio).
Topic: death-penalty

The punishment for these crimes, though often cruel, included: boiling to death, dismemberment, sawing, breaking wheel, crucifixion, slow slicing, and decapitation. Some speculate that British influence of the time can account for the large majority of countries that adopted the penalty. Up until about the 1700’s, Britain had named upwards to two hundred and twenty-two crimes that were punishable by death, including cutting down a tree or counterfeiting tax stamps (Reggio). Around 1823, many laws were passed exempting crimes from capital punishment. Capital punishments were abolished exponentially during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the era was marked by a transition from cruel and violent punishment to humane forms of “executions” in Britain and many other European countries.
Topic: death-penalty

The first recorded execution in America was documented in 1608 when officials executed George Kendall of Virginia for alleged plots to betray the British to the Spanish. The first legal execution occurred in 1620 for the crime of theft. The severity and frequency of the death sentence varied from colony to colony. For example, in Massachusetts, the only recognized capital crimes were these seven: murder, sodomy, burglary, buggery, arson, rape, and treason; while in other colonies, one could be executed for something as simple as stealing grapes. By the late 1700s, the colonies in America shared common capital crimes, with the exception of a few, and later reforms were foreseeable. The first series of significant reforms arose during the period of 1833-1853 (Reggio). The practice grew dangerously close to a spectator sport until this time. People would flood the streets to get a glimpse at the hangings. As fights and brawls would break out, the local merchants would feed the frenzy by serving alcohol and offering souvenirs. During the era of reform, private hangings became the alternative to the mayhem of public hangings. 1846 marked the first step toward abolishment of the death penalty. Michigan abolished the death penalty (except for treason), followed by severe limitations by Massachusetts, and abolishment by Wisconsin.
Topic: death-penalty

The electric chair came in an odd way in 1888 after Edison Company began public demonstrations by electrocuting animals. The reasoning was that if it could kill animals, it could probably kill people. Hanging was almost unseen after a hangman misjudged a drop and a woman’s head was ripped from her body. The majority of people from this era were opposed to certain forms of death sentences, but few were opposed to the practice altogether. The majority of the world has moved toward more humane forms of punishment in response to the disorder associated with the dated forms of capital punishment. Currently, the United Nations passed a nonbinding resolution to promote the abolishment of the death penalty across the world, yet approximately 60% of the population of the world lives in countries where executions take place (Reggio).
Topic: death-penalty

Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative seeks to act with accordance to a general rule. The general rule applied here is very difficult, given the different capital crimes in the world, and the vast forms of achieving death. He would also pose the question of whether or not the death penalty is using a human as a means to an end. According to the categorical imperative, “society and individuals must act in such a way that you can will that your actions become a universal law for all to follow” (Kant on Capital Punishment) (Kant, 2004). Kant’s view on crime is that society makes laws that, if they are broke, punishment must follow. The purpose of punishment is not to benefit anyone (deterrence or to teach a lesson), but rather a form of penalization. It is essential to see Kant’s view with regard to only murder. He works on the basis that we cannot punish for the sake of the benefit of society, because some innocent people can be deemed unnecessary for society and still remain innocent of crime. Kant works on the view that society and government have laws – and should those laws be broken, there will be penalization. Laws that are broken without punishment are flimsy (Kant, 2004). A weak law is then an indication of a weak society.
Topic: death-penalty

In the words of Jeremy Bentham, “All punishment is mischief; all punishment in itself is evil. (Bentham)” The utilitarian view of punishment is that punishment causes unhappiness and pain, therefore it, for the most part, is a bad thing. Punishment can only be justified if the benefits outweigh the costs. For example, does the punishment of a man who has broken into several houses cause good for a society? The answer is yes because he will no longer break into houses if he is punished by being thrown in jail. Most utilitarians would oppose any form of punishment, especially the death penalty because it causes suffering. Principally, the main standard that utilitarianism is based on is that pleasure should outweigh pain. On this cost benefit analysis, the death penalty can go either way. Capital punishment reduces crime in some aspects, but it also is taking the life away from the criminal. The argument that capital punishment deters crime is hard to prove, but would be an argument in favor for utilitarianism, but just as the categorical imperative fails logically, the execution of the innocent can be justified in utilitarianism as well.
Topic: death-penalty

In the Aristotelian tradition, humans should act rationally accompanied by appropriate amounts of courage, self-control, and fairness (Aristotle, Nico.) He strongly believed in the necessity for society to enact laws with teeth in them, for the purpose of creating citizens with good habits of character. When a crime in enacted, Aristotle believes that the balance must be restored between the one doing the harm and the victim. I believe that capital punishment can be justified in the Aristotelian tradition because no other justification can be explained. Aristotle, like Immanuel Kant, believes that governments and societies need laws and no action against those laws should go unpunished. “It is in justice that the ordering of society is centered (Aristotle),” in other words, every human should act in a just manner, and those who act unjustly should be chastised accordingly by their society. Retributive justice, or if the punishment is an acceptable form of response to a crime, Aristotle believed was essential to a good society.
Topic: death-penalty

Ron House, the faculty of Sciences at the University of Southern Queensland, offers a new prospective by which we can look at all the death penalty using a principle known as the “Principle of Goodness” (House, 2007). His theory beautifully encompasses the philosophers that preceded him. “We must act so as to accord with a general rule, and the Principle of Goodness is a general rule (Or becomes one as soon as we say “act such as to avoid evil and pursue goodness”); stricter because not any general rule satisfies the Principle (House, 2007).” The theory assumes that the world is not perfect, just as utilitarianism does. There will always be exceptions to every rule, just as murder in self-defense has now been accepted as ethically acceptable. House points out that the critics of the death penalty often claim that it is simply a form of retribution, but if retribution, or eye for an eye, was the only factor, wouldn’t we give terrible torture for torture or mutilation for mutilation? We seem to stop short somewhere, but where do we draw the line – a difficult question to answer. House also points out that societies are ever changing, and one solution is never the answer to a problem like the death penalty. The principle of goodness helps us make clear the important considerations and proposals to the issue. Tremendous protection of the innocent must be present along with logic based arguments absent of emotions based on the race of an offender or outrage towards her/him (House, 2007). Today, the absence of bias or irrational emotion is impossible. Other factors, although irrational and illogical, will always play a part in the decisions of a courtroom.
Topic: death-penalty

From a moral point of view, Steffen Lloyd stresses the problem with the death penalty. How do we know 100% that every man on death row is guilty? He also allows the viewer to relate the unjust crucifixion of Jesus Christ to the possibly innocent individuals on death row. His argument was that there can be just execution, but the American legal system prevents just execution (Lloyd, 1998). Despite whether or not it is ethical or moral, as Bill Mears points out in his CNN study, some states just cannot afford the death penalty. “Thirty-five states still retain the death penalty, but fewer and fewer executions are taking place every year,” said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. “But the overall death row population has remained relatively steady. At a time of budget shortfalls nationwide, the death penalty is turning into an expensive form of life without parole.” The same information center conducted a study that suggested capital punishment costs can average $10 million more per year per state than life sentences. He suggests that the death sentence provokes more plea bargaining and appeals than any other sentence, therefor driving up the cost of such a penalty (Mears, 2009).