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The Death Penalty Is A Fair Punishment

Heloise Posey

Strayer University Online

Critical Thinking

(PHI 210)

Professor Dena Hurst

June16, 2013

Introduction

Most death penalty cases involve the execution of murderers although capital punishment can also be applied for treason, espionage, and other crimes. Proponents of the death penalty say it is an important tool for preserving law and order, deters crime, and costs less than life imprisonment. They argue that retribution or "an eye for an eye" honors the victim, helps console grieving families, and ensures that the perpetrators of heinous crimes never have an opportunity to cause future tragedy.

Opponents of capital punishment say it has no deterrent effect on crime, wrongly gives governments the power to take human life, and perpetuates social injustices by disproportionately targeting people of color (racist) and people who cannot afford good attorneys (classist). They say lifetime jail sentences are a more severe and less expensive punishment than death.

The Death Penalty Is A Fair Punishment

There should only be two positions for this argument, but I have always been inclined to believe that there are three (3). You have people who are either against the death penalty, for the death penalty, or undecided about how they feel about the death penalty. People who are undecided about the death penalty feel as a person should receive the death penalty depending on the crime they have committed. The right is not absolute because a person’s life can be overridden for good reasons. So the right to life does not hold in every situation no matter what. One of these situations should include taking the life of another innocent human.

Therefore, it is morally permissible to set the right to life aside, and use the death penalty, if they took the life of an innocent human. My position on the death penalty is that it should be based on the...