Capital Punishment: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions
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Capital Punishment
Summary: Is it ever justifiable to execute criminals?
Introduction
Author:Eliot Jones ( Tunisia ) Eliot Jones is a freelance communications consultant.
Created: Monday, November 13, 2000
Last Modified: Saturday, August 22, 2009
Context
Close to 90 countries have the death penalty, but nowhere is it debated so often as in the United States
where each state can formulate its own policy according to the Constitution. 38 of the 50 states allow
the death penalty as a sentence although some, such as Illinois, have recently imposed a moratorium
while they study the arguments for and against.
Arguments
Pros
The principle of capital punishment is that certain
murderers deserve nothing less than death as a just,
proportionate and effective punishment. There are
problems with the death penalty, but these are with its
implementation rather than its principle. Murderers
forgo their rights as humans at the moment when they
take away the rights of another human. By wielding
such a powerful punishment as the response to
murder, society is affirming the value that is placed
upon the right to life of the innocent person. Many
more innocent people have been killed by released,
paroled or escaped murderers than innocent people
executed.
Capital punishment is 100% effective as a deterrent to
the criminal being executed; that killer cannot commit
any more crimes. As a deterrent to others, it depends
on how effectively the death penalty is applied; in the
USA where less than 1% of murderers are executed, it
is difficult to assess the true effect of deterrence. But
for example, a 1985 study (Stephen K. Layson,
University of North Carolina) showed that 1 execution
deterred 18 murders.
If and when discrimination occurs, it should be
corrected. Consistent application of the death penalty
against murderers of all races, and in cases where the
victims were of all races, would abolish the idea that it
can be a racist tool. This could be done by making it
mandatory in all capital cases.
Opponents of the death penalty prefer to ignore the
fact that they themselves are responsible for its high
costs, by causing a never-ending succession of
appeals. Prisons in many countries are over-crowded
and under-funded, and this problem is made worse by
life sentences or delayed death sentences for
murderers. Why should the taxpayer bear the cost of
supporting a murderer for an entire lifetime?
Different countries and societies can have different
attitudes towards the justifiability of executing mentally
incompetent or teenaged murderers. If society is
against such executions, then in cases where they
happen it is a problem with the implementation of
capital punishment. For opponents to seize on such
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Cons
Execution is, in simplest terms, state-sanctioned
killing, and it devalues the respect we place on human
life; how can we say that killing is wrong if we sanction
killing criminals? More importantly, the whole principle
is outweighed by the proven risk of executing innocent
people. 23 innocent people were executed in the USA
in the 20th century. The avoidable killing of an
innocent person can never be justified, in any
circumstances.
Higher execution rates can actually increase violent
crime rates. California averaged 6 executions a year
from 1952 to 1967, and had twice the murder rate
than the period from 1968 until 1991 when there were
no executions. In New York, from 1907 to 1964,
months immediately following an execution showed a
net increase of two murders - an average over a 57-
year period.
Implementation of the death penalty, particularly in
America, can suffer from social or racial bias and in
fact be used as a weapon against a certain section of
society. In the USA nearly 90% of those executed
were convicted of killing whites, despite the fact that
non-whites make up more than 50% of all murder
victims.
Capital punishment costs more than life without
parole. Studies in the US show that capital cases, from
arrest to execution, cost between $1 million and $7
million. A case resulting in life imprisonment costs
around $500,000.
Defendants who are mentally incompetent will often
answer "Yes" to questions in the desire to please
others. This can lead to false confessions. Over 30
mentally retarded people have been executed in the
USA since 1976.
Capital Punishment: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions
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file:///C|/Users/User/Desktop/Debatebase/Capital%20Punishment.htm[3/31/2011 9:27:48 PM]
cases is to cloud the issue; this is not an argument
against the principle.
Some criminals are beyond rehabilitation; it may be By executing criminals you are ruling out the
that capital punishment should be reserved for serial possibility of rehabilitation - that they may repent of
killers, terrorists, murderers of policemen and so on. their crime, serve a sentence as punishment, and
emerge as a reformed and useful member of society.
Motions
This House supports the death penalty
This House would take an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life
Useful Sites
Derechos Human Rights: Death Penalty Links
Pro-Death Penalty.Com
Death Watch International
Amnesty International and the Death Penalty
About.com links page
New Yorker article by Scott Turow
Death Penalty Information Centre
New York Times Upfront article
European Union policy
ACLU
Heritage Foundation testimony to Congress
Useful Books
Against the Death Penalty: Christian and Secular Arguments against Capital Punishment
By: Gardner Hanks
Capital Punishment: The Death Penalty Debate
By: Ted Gottfried
Just Revenge: Costs and Consequences of the Death Penalty
By: Mark Costanzo
The Death Penalty: For and Against
By: Louis Pojman
The Death Penalty: A Worldwide Perspective
By: Roger Hood , Carolyn Hoyle
Death Penalty: Fair Solution or Moral Failure?
By: Joann Bren Guernsey
Themes
Moral and Religious
Discuss
View the full discussion
Author Post
godogs Posted: Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:05 am
Member
Why should a murderer be given the rights he has taken so hastily from another? By
killing another person the murderer is accepting their consequence for the crime they
have committed. There is no guarantee that the murderer won't escape from prison,
therefore, by keeping them alive and healthy the criminal justice system is not
guaranteeing the justice the victims family deserves. Lastly, as a hard worker I do not
want my hard earned money to go to a prison if it's going to be used to keep a
murderer alive, when that person has proved themselves unworthy of a single penny I
earn. I believe capital punishment is something that should be kept around. We as
human beings control our own actions and we are solely responsible for our actions.
There is no justice when another human being is murdered by a ruthless human
being. I say "human being," but in all reality how can anyone call this murderer a
"human being" after what they have done to another individual? When anyone thinks
of a murder, they do not automatically think about what the victim went through. They
just think the individual is dead. Put everything aside and think of the victim and the
suffering they endured! I am more than positive each victim pleaded for their life or let
out a cry of terror, but that did not stop the murderer from ending a life. They did not
show mercy so why should we?
tuahaa Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:55 pm
Member
Capital Punishment: Debatabase - Debate Topics and Debate Motions

Isn't punishment supposed to be a deterrent to crime? I believe that capital

punishments for certain crimes such as murder should be allowed. What better price
for taking the life of another? If you say that murderers are "still humans", what about
their victims? Are they just lesser animals that do not deserve proper vengeance?

Perfect_Flaw Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 02:19 pm

Member
Punishing criminals I'm all for, but if you kill someone, and they have kids, they may
grow up to hate the government and try to get back, doing things and creating more
and more violence. And wasn't the whole point of Capital Punishment to stop
violence?? (now, this may or may not have happened before, i'm just making an
argument.)

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