Essays on Death Penalty: Argumentative Essay Sample

The death penalty is a too complicated subject that polarizes opinions on some sensitive social and moral issues. This is a subject of crucial importance that involves various aspects and is extremely complex to judge on because of its nature. In order to build up your personal attitude towards this topic and craft a strong argumentative paper, you might need to look through existing essays about death penalty. Pay special attention to persuasive essays with a straightforward introduction and argumentative and clear conclusion.

Capital Punishment Essay

Capital punishment has remained a method to punish people for committing hideous crimes for centuries. It has been a controversial topic for years with its theories of deterrence, retribution, and punishment being discussed and disagreed upon. A lot of countries have excluded the death penalty from the list of criminal sanctions because of its inefficiency in crime prevention and the risks of killing innocents. In my against capital punishment essay, I consider both the pros and cons of the death penalty and set out my opinion towards it.

The key thought boils down to the fact that criminals who have committed revolting crimes throughout their lives, though, it does not mean they need to be deprived the right to live. Moreover, employing the death penalty doesn’t necessarily decrease or end the crime rates in a country. According to Amnesty International, while 140 countries have abolished the death penalty in practice or law, 58 states still continue to exercise capital punishment. Death penalty should be abolished for all nations with regard to the fact that it doesn’t influence crime, puts innocent lives at risk, and costs countries a lot of money. 

Death Penalty Pros and Cons

There have always been passionate advocates on both sides of the debate over the death penalty, so it is essential to consider the advantages and disadvantages of capital punishment with an open mind as much as possible.

The Death Penalty: Pros

Many can argue that there are several reasonable benefits that grow from having the death sentence in the list of punishments. As the death penalty paper is such a strong construct, it’s a common belief that it can help deter crime much more effectively than lengthy imprisonment. Nevertheless, the idea of deterrence itself is declared by many scientists as inapplicable to forensic psychology, especially when some mental illness is involved. Felons tend not to think about the possible results of their actions, and this particularly works for crimes of passion.

Those who support the death penalty state that it eliminates the burden of housing lawbreakers with penitentiary system resources by killing them. Overcrowded prisons and overstretched assets are critical issues in many countries. Due to the severeness of inmates’ crimes and their lengthy sentences, it costs much more to house, feed, and seclude these dangerous prisoners than just put them to death. Besides, if they are paroled or amnestied, there is always a chance they could commit another crime, which is absolutely removed with capital punishment.

The Death Penalty: Cons

On the other hand, there are many ethical and practical reasons against the death penalty. Although it is difficult to figure out the exact moral and social status of this criminal sanction, a lot of people see it as a barbaric, amoral, and degrading thing. The opponents of capital punishment assert that it creates incredible pain and suffering for the sentenced and dehumanizes society as a whole where it is practiced. Both of these aspects might have negative consequences on criminality. The prevailing majority of people would confirm that the life of every human being is valuable and should necessarily be preserved, but the degree at which preservation should be replaced by retribution becomes highly debatable.

Furthermore, misconduct in law system can also cause wrong sentencing. When it’s awful for non-death condemned, this is a villainous breach of justice if capital punishment is involved. And even one innocent life being put to death is too many.

Last but not least, the cost to exercise the death penalty is much higher than imprisonment is in most cases. If you calculate the cost of the lengthy appeal procedure, time spent in prison’s death row, and the aspects with secure housing, it may cost approximately one million dollars more to execute death penalty than the life imprisonment without any possibility to be paroled.

Should the Death Penalty Be Allowed?

The most important issue I want to state in the essay conclusion is that the justice system will never be absolutely correct. Juries and judges might convict the innocent by mistake as in the case of Donald Marshall, who was sentenced to life imprisonment and spent more than 10 years in jail for the murder he didn’t commit. Sometimes people happen to turn up innocent, and only when they are sent to prison, their sentence can be dismissed. The death penalty, in turn, is irreversible.

Furthermore, capital punishment is unjust, violent, and morally wrong. We do not rape the rapists or steal from the thieves. So why do we kill the murderers? It’s degrading to repeat the crime. It’s wanton cruelty. The death penalty shifts the focus from the victims and concentrates attention solely on the criminal.

These are just some of the explanations of why the death penalty should be abolished. There, of course, exist much more. Cruel, corrupt, unjust, with the chance to sentence innocent people – how the death penalty can ever be justified? I strongly oppose this criminal sanction and what it stands for.

 

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