Cat and the Hat

Capital punishment has found use in nearly every society for crimes such as premeditated murder, treason, espionage, and even lesser military crimes like cowardice, mutiny, insubordination, and desertion. Most of Asia, the Caribbean, and Africa along with most of the United States continue to practice capital punishment; however, many European countries, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have completely abolished capital punishment. According to utilitarianism, punishment leads to the promotion of greater societal happiness by rehabilitating criminals, protecting society, deterring crimes from occurring, and the reduction of recidivism. Many proponents of capital punishment feel as though capital punishment greatly reduces recidivism, deters crime, and is an appropriate punishment for some crimes; however, many proponents disagree regarding the exact meaning of the extreme circumstances required to invalidate an individual’s right to life. Opponents feel as though capital punishment does not deter an individual any more than other forms of punishment, leads to the execution of the wrongfully accused, is applied in a discriminatory and capricious fashion, and violates human rights. I stand with the opponents of capital punishment and believe capital punishment is morally wrong, violates basic human rights, and risks punishment of the innocent.

Proponents of capital punishment feel as though capital punishment protects society, deters crime, and clearly reduces recidivism. Although capital punishment obviously does not rehabilitate criminals, proponents feel as though in certain extreme circumstances an individual can choose to nullify their right to rehabilitation. However, many opponents of capital punishment claim that capital punishment does not actually deter crime. According to research done by the Supreme Court justices in the Gregg decision and others capital punishment does not actually deter crime any more than does other forms of punishment. In fact, capital punishment has been abolished in twelve states and the homicide rate has not increased in any of them. Many proponents actually even agree that capital punishment does not deter crime any more than other punishments, such as life imprisonment. If capital punishment does not deter criminals more than other punishment forms does this not then imply that capital punishment is more unjust as compared to punishment forms that do not involve killing the convicted?

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