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Madeline Roy

Dr. John Hill

CJ 1010

6 December 2017

The Death Penalty

A very controversial topic here in America to date is capital punishment, and whether or

not there should be a death penalty. While this is a big debate here, it is also a major topic all

around the world. The main question that is debated is whether or not it is justifiable. Throughout

history this has been argued and is highly biased because of peoples beliefs. There are religions

arguing with other religions, non religious arguing with other non religious, and the two arguing

and butting heads with each other. Religion aside, who is to say that one person or group of

people is in charge of deciding whether a person is to live or die? What type of crime would

justify the act of taking the life of a human life? Can it be justified and is it effective in deterring

people who are going to commit the crime, that is considered worthy of the death penalty?

In Chapter 3 pages 51 to 53 of Why the Death Penalty Is Morally Permissible, written

by Louis P. Pojman, in the book Debating the Death Penalty: Should America Have Capital

Punishment? The Experts on Both Sides Make Their Best Case, by Paul G. Cassell and Adam

Hugo, the reader will get a clear picture as to what the chapter is about. In the very first

paragraph, Pojman states that, The death penalty as punishment for the most serious crime is

morally justified(51), making his position on the matter very clear. I do agree that the death

penalty is generally for the very most serious crimes, and I feel like no one gets to say who does
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and doesnt get the death penalty until you have experienced first hand losing a family member

because of a selfish persons decision to commit the crime, and take someone else life away.

Re-Rethinking the Death Penalty is an article that summarizes a paper written by Case

Sunstein, and it explains a study that was done at Emory University in 1977, saying that, On

average, every execution deters eighteen murders. With this it shoes that there is some

substantial evidence that may be keeping a lot of people from committing the crime of killing

other people. Though this is just an on average comparison, I think that keeping at least

eighteen people from being murdered is significant enough to show that execution is saving

others from the criminals trying to take away precious human lives.

In conclusion, I feel that there is enough bad in the world, and I full heartily agree with

capital punishment as it is meant for the most serious a crime can be, and that the death penalty is

completely justifiable. It shows that crime is deterred, and being able to give families of victims

the feeling of relief, knowing that the criminal who caused so much heartache, will not have the

chance to hurt anyone else. Though there are two sides to everything and people have opinions

on why the death penalty should be completely gone, I do believe that our nation can be a safer

place with sticking by the death penalty. As the nation is split with the decision, we as

individuals need to come to our own conclusion and opinions, and because of this there may

never be a Happy medium with this topic.

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Work Cited

Cassell, Paul G., and Hugo Adam Bedau. Debating the Death Penalty: Should America Have

Capital Punishment? The Experts on Both Sides Make Their Best Case. New York:

Oxford University Press, 2004. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). 51-53, Web.

Douthat, Ross, and Marshall Poe. Re-Rethinking the Death Penalty. Atlantic 296.1 (2005):

46. Literacy Reference Center. Web.