I am against capital punishement.
In the states capital punishment has been shown to be a weak deterrent. The risk of death has no effect on the person who is about to commit the crime. Here is some evidence of that:
States with Capital punishment VS those without
This graph shows the murder rate in states with the death penality and without. Those with it actually have HIGHER rates of murder (link)
Nations with Capital punishment (United states) VS those without
Again, America has the death penality but still they have much higher rates of murder (remember this is based on average not on the amount of people). While i dont think capital punishment increase crime i dont think it reduces it either. This graphs shows it has no effect.
Moving on....The sort of mind-set you would need to be in, to commit the serious and appalling crimes that capital punishment could be used for, would mean they are not going to think of their punishment logically. These are crimes were the person is either mentally unbalanced, emotional, or desperate. Even if they were perfectly sane then they would think they could get away with it anyway. So capital punishment is not effective in reducing crime.
As for prisons being too full then capital punishment is not effective. Very few people are in prison for this type of crime. Serial killers and the worst murders do not make up a large number of the prison population. Most of it is made up of other crimes such as robbery, assault, and crimes linked to drugs etc. So the death penalty will not reduce overcrowding (even if it did, killing people to make space is a stupid idea anyway!!)
Thatââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s before we even get into the difficulties involved with deciding what should be considered a death penalty. Murder? Well murder isnââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t always clear cut, its not a case of someone kills someone in cold blood and thatââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s that! There was one case where a man had come home to his wife and she told him she was cheating on him. She then continued to boost about this and tell him that she never loved him, and that he was a joke. She continues bragging, insulting him and saying it had gone on since before they were married. He lashed out and the resultant blow was enough to kill her. He didnââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t get manslaughter and got charged with murder instead. Should that be enough?
What about someone whose need for drugs has over-powered any sort of logical thinking and he steals to get money for drugs? The victim attempts to stop him and he attacks the victim. Leading to that personââ‚Ã⠀šÃ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢s death? Should that be enough?
Hit and run? Murder out of anger, emotion or desperation? Quite young? Mentally unbalanced? Where do you draw the line?
Capital punishment does not act as a way to reduce crime, reduce prison levels, or keep the public safer. There will always be a case of one or two wrong convictions so it doesnââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t do much for justice either.
Is this nothing more than satisfying the human urge for revenge? And if it is, isnââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t that an awful way to deal with justice? Justice should always been fair and balanced and never should the emotion of a case get in the way
Finally it is far better to let that person sit in a cell for the rest of his life and live with his own conscience than to put him out of his misery quickly
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