Capital Punishment

Support for the death penalty varies within different race and faith group, showing both white and Afro American evangelicals to be opposed to capital punishment. Although Afro American fundamentalists are still opposed, white fundamentalists have a high level of support for the death penalty. It is thought that people from the white faith group have idea's which are most likely shaped by criminal behaviour while the afro American faith group base their idea's more on their perception of the law and the criminal justice system.

Many people support capital punishment as they feel justice must be done and that a punishment must fit its crime. There is also biblical justification for capital punishment, as the bible requires the death penalty for a wide variety of crimes, including sex before marriage, adultery, homosexual behaviour, doing work on the Sabbath day and murder. Most Christians feel that these requirements no longer apply; however bible passages are still used to promote the use of capital punishment for murderers.

Many of the reasons against Capital punishment are clear arguments of the reasons supporting it -Some people feel Christians are no longer bound by the legal codes of the Scriptures and that the death penalty is no longer required. Since the bible was written, and we have become more tolerant, we eliminated the death penalty for pre marital sex, practicing a different religion, prostitution, homosexual behavior, blasphemy, rebellious teenager's etc. I think we should eliminate it for murder as well.

Many people feel that killing convicted murderers will satisfy their need for revenge and vengeance. They feel that certain crimes are so heinous that executing the criminal is the only reasonable response, "It is by exacting the highest penalty for the taking of human life that we affirm the highest value of human life" -Edward Koch.

People also feel that the death penalty will deter criminals from killing. A study by Isaac Ehrlich found that the murder rate responded to executions. He concluded that 7 or 8 murders were prevented by each execution from 1933 to 1967. A study by Kenneth Wolpin showed that each execution, on average reduced the number of murders in England by four, but this does not seem to be confirmed by all of the available data. Once a convicted murderer is executed an buried, there is no further maintenance cost to the state or government, and there is no chance that he can break out of jail and kill or injure someone.

Some people feel that permitting premeditated murder is totally unexceptable, even if the government does it. Capital punishment lowers the value of human life as seen by the general population and brutalizes society. It is pure revenge. It "violates our belief in the human capacity for change...and powerfully reinforces the idea that killing can be a proper way of responding to those who have wronged us!" Those people do not believe that reinforcements of that idea can lead to healthier and safer communities. The death penalty has not been shown to be effective in the reduction of the homicide rate. There are some indications that executions actually increase the murder rate. A 1980 study of homicides in New York found that the average number of murders increased in the month following an execution and Canada's homicide rate had dropped 27% since the death penalty was abolished in that country (for ordinary crimes) in 1976. This shows that Capital Punishment does not seem an appropriate way to deal with a murder, as it doesn't seem to discourage other people from killing.

Human life is of sacred value. The death penalty denies the sacredness of a person's life. Live is so precious that no one deserves to be killed even if they have murdered another. Even though killing is never right it seems to be acceptable in wars, I think that all killing of humans is unfair and unjustified.

Capital punishment is also viewed as being unfair, as the poor, males and racial minorities are over represented among those executed. A 1986 study in Georgia showed that persons who killed "whites were four times more likely to be sentenced to death than convicted killers of non- whites"

One pilot study of over two dozen convicted criminals on death row found that all had been so seriously abused during childhood that they probably all suffered from brain damage. Women convicted of murder are almost never convicted; it seems to be a method reserved for men.

I don't think it is fair to keep killers on death row for a number of years before executing them, although I want them to have a long prison sentence I don't think that they should be locked away as animals not knowing how long they have left to live.

When asked whether they would like to see executions continue or have them replaced with a system that guaranteed: life imprisonment with no hope for parole, ever, that the inmate would work in prison to earn money which would be directed to helping the family of the person(s) that they killed, about 55-60% of Americans preferred the second system. This proves the point I made earlier that many people feel murder is wrong and do not agree with the government's stance on it.

There is also a chance of error in the sentencing of murder cases. Many convicted murderers are later found innocent and have been pardoned. An example of this was the "Birmingham Six". Accused of planting a bomb in a bar in Birmingham, they were put in jail and spent 16 years in jail before being found innocent. In 1987 a study was published by the Stanford Law review. They found some evidence that suggested that at least 350 people between 1990 and 1985 in America might have been innocent of the crime for which they are convicted, and could have been sentenced to death. 139 "were sentenced to death and as many as 23 were executed".

There is a down side to this though. Some jury members are reluctant to convict in murder trials because of the possibility of executing an innocent person. Thus many killers go free and are never punished.

I feel that Capital punishment is unnecessary and takes away from the meaning of human life being sacred. I think that a lifetime prison sentence is more appropriate and I think that life sentences should be increased to thirty or more years. In prison it allows the murderer time to reflect on what they have done and gives them the time to grieve for the person they have murdered. If they are killed straight away then they will never have a chance to feel regret.