Capital Punishment: The Pros And Cons Of The Death Penalty

1359 Words6 Pages
The first death penalty laws were established in the eighteenth century making it so you could only be hanged for murder. The first recorded death penalty that took place was in 1608, it was Captain George Kendall. This execution took place in the new colonies, he was put to death because he was suspected of spying for Spain he was executed by a firing squad. Capital Punishment has not been proven to deter crime and opens the possibility of executing innocent people; finally, the Death Penalty/Capital Punishment can cause 2nd hand trauma to the victim and their family. Capital Punishment violates the 8th amendment, it is labeled as cruel and unusual punishment. Capital punishment also violates the constitutional guarantee of equal protection,…show more content…
Also, trauma is not only common in the families but the people who have to watch, prepare and struggle with the inmates who are fighting for their lives. There are people who have to deal with the inmates daily. The guards have to look and watch people knowing that they will die whether they think capital punishment is right or wrong it will put pressure on them. The guards will never forget the people they saw or heard die because of something they did or something they even didn't do. It’s not just about what capital punishment does to those executed, but also what it does to those who do the executing and those who are related to the felon. Some people often think about the victims family and the victim. People don't really think about the felon's family, I would think the felon and the victim would much rather they be in jail or prison than executed. Executing can even make a town, not as fun or can make it gloomier. The people that actually do the executions have been known to suffer the most trauma. The executioner has a job that is to kill people who are “bad” or did something wrong. One person should not have that much pressure. No one's job description should have to including killing people. If you make one person kill other people he will suffer more than anyone…show more content…
Since society has the highest interest in preventing murder, it should use the strongest punishment available to deter murder, and that is the death penalty. If murderers are sentenced to death and executed, potential murderers will think twice before killing for fear of losing their own life. States with high murder rates would have even higher rates if they did not use the death penalty. Ernest van den Haag, a Professor of Jurisprudence at Fordham University who has studied the question of deterrence closely, wrote: "Even though statistical demonstrations are not conclusive, and perhaps cannot be, capital punishment is likely to deter more than other punishments because people fear death more than anything else. There is no proof that any innocent person has actually been executed since increased safeguards and appeals were added to our death penalty system in the 1970s. Even if such executions have occurred, they are very rare. Imprisoning innocent people is also wrong, but we cannot empty the prisons because of that minimal risk. Just because someone's conviction is overturned years later and the prosecutor decides not to retry him, does not mean he is actually
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