There is no other furniture in the cells, though some states have concrete shelves on the cell's back walls - to serve as 'tables,' or a place to set a TV or radio if the prisoner is so fortunate as to have one. There is no natural fresh air ventilation to the cell units. Some units have some form of air-conditioning, many don't. When it's cold out, they're cold. When it's hot out, they're hot. And its usually re-circulated air laced with concrete dust and other particles.
So, Many argue that death is more humane then spending your live in these conditions. This is a strong argument for the death penalty.
Legal arguments
Is the Death Penalty a deterrent?
Fear of death deters people from committing crimes proponent say They also believe that if attached to certain crimes, the penalty of death exerts a positive moral influence by placing a stigma on certain crimes like manslaughter, resulting in attitudes of disgust and horror to such acts Furthermore, retenstionsists insist that the deterrent influence of the death penalty reaches across state lines into jurisdictions that have abolished it, and so all benefit by its continued use. Perhaps this is the intended goal of the Violent Crime Control And Law Enforcement Act of 1994. It "establishes constitutional procedures for the imposition of the death penalty for federal crimes. It applies to federal statute's that previously carried the death penalty and creates many new capital offenses As a result of the Act, the death penalty may now be imposed for nearly sixty federal crimes. New capital offences include the murder of a federal prisoner saving a life sentence, and drive by shootings in the course of certain drug offences"
One place that can be used as an example is the U.S.A. Some states have got the death penalty enforced whilst some others don’t. I have made a graph to make it easy to analyse;
As you can clearly see the death penalty looks as if it doesn’t work because in Louisiana where they have the death penalty they have the highest rates of murders, thirteen a years. Also nearly all of the states without the death penalty have murder rate well under the average except from Alaska and West Virginia, which are high. Only a few of those states that have got the death penalty have low rates (South Dakota and New Hampshire) whilst the others are very high. Looking at this it doesn’t work.
A second direct attack on the practice of capital punishment is that at least at present it is virtually impossible to apply death sentenced fairly People on death row are typically poor and thus could not afford the best defence at their initial trial. They are also predominately Afro-American or Hispanic, which raises larger issues of racial inequality in the US. As ethnic minorities, they are also likely to receive more strict judgments from juries than their white counterparts who commit the same crime. These considerations recently prompted a US Supreme Court Justice to change his own views on capital punishment and reject the practice. In addition to problems of class bias, the practice of capital punishment is further tainted by the tragic fact that innocent people are sometimes executed. Eliminating capital punishment not only prevents their wrongful execution, but also gives them more time to clear their names and return to society.
Past Cases:
How can they be sure of executing the correct person? Britain Police and government recently have had egg on their faces about the Stephen downing case. He was forced into a confession when he was 17 about killer a woman. He only had a mental age of twelve and police took advantage of him. They have recently proved his innocents (See Appendix.2)
Culture
Can films about the death penalty influence people? Well it is possible. It is in our culture. One recent film is the green mile, which I have watched about death row. Where an innocent man with a supernatural gift was killed just because of his race. It raises views that innocents are sent to death.
Children are easily influenced so it is clear that media can have an effect on them, one case is that of the murder of James Buldger where is murders were only 11. It is thought to have believed that before the day when they murdered they had watched a film with killing in (Childs play 3) as they had copied covering the Victim in paint before killing him, like of what was in the movie.
Religion’s Argument
Christian Views
First, Christ never condemned capital punishment. In fact capital punishment was unjustly carried out against him. If Christ looked upon capital punishment with disgust, he had ample opportunity to speak out on the topic. In Luke, the repentant thief said he and the other offender had justly receiving the death sentence but Christ was guiltless. "And we indeed, for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss." Christ could have said to the repentant thief, "It does not matter what you have done, capital punishment is wrong. It should be done away with." But, he did not say that when he had a golden opportunity to say it.
That brings us to the second incident that can shed some light of Jesus Christ’s' view of capital punishment. We find this in John. This passage deals with the Pharisee's sting operation relating to the adulterous woman. It was designed to trap Christ and make him reject the Law God had given to Moses or the Roman law of the day. Christ did neither, but in fact invited those without sin to throw the first stone. John 8:7 says, "So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." This is hardly a rejection of capital punishment. Christ in the bible did not make sure of his views.
Islamic Views
In dealing with murder, the Quran definitely discourages capital punishment "The free for the free, the slave for the slave, and the female for the female" Due to human meanness and injustice; many people cannot even imagine what this Quranic law says.
They refuse to accept the clear injunctions that strict equivalence must be observed - if a woman kills a man, or a man kills a woman, or a slave kills a free person, or a free person kills a slave, capital punishment cannot be applied. The Quran prefers that the murderer
compensate the victim's family. Killing the murderer does not bring the victim back, nor does the family of the victim benefit from executing the murderer. The compensation, however, must be sufficient to be a deterrent for others. In Islam, the victim and the victim's family are the judges for all crimes; they decide what the punishment shall be under the supervision of a person who knows the Quran.
We think that we are the more civilised religion, because they think that we at the west have a more defined view, and those who think that they are the most civilised are the American’s. But how can they say this when obviously the views of Islam are not only sensible and well thought of but are fair to both parties. This is more civilised that just killing someone because they have killed.
As noted, most arguments against capital punishment are based on exposing flaws in defenses of capital punishment. However, some are more direct attacks, such as that capital punishment should be abolished since it is undignified, inhumane, or contrary to love. Corporal punishment, such as flogging, and extreme types of capital punishment, such as burning at the stake, are no longer accepted practices because of their indignity. By parity of reasoning, capital punishment should be abolished too. However, even if we grant that capital punishment violates our duty to treat people with dignity, humanity, and love that alone may not be a sufficient reason for abolishing the practice. Dignity, humanity and love are foundational moral goods and as such are important in nature. That is, they are each morally binding on face value until a stronger duty emerges with which it conflicts, thereby creating a moral dilemma. Defenders of capital punishment argue that retributive justice is one such conflicting duty. For, even though we are duty bound to acknowledge a criminal's dignity, the duty of retribution is also present and is in fact outweighs the other duties.
