Capital Punishment

Capital Punishment

Henry B. Blair

Columbia College

Business Ethics

Retha Barron

February 24, 2008

Abstract

There are on-going debates between people advocating the capital punishment and many that are against it. The people that advocates Capital punishment, supports their opinions with the angle of public safety, justice, and/ or vengeance. Many Capital punishment advocates feel that once a convicted murderer is executed, there is no chance that he will break out of jail and kill or injure someone. Other advocates feel that killing convicted murderers will satisfy their need for justice and/or vengeance. They feel that certain crimes are so heinous that executing the criminal is the only reasonable response. Those that oppose Capital punishment do so because the punishment is supposed to be for the protection of society, and for the reformation of the wrongdoer. It purports to protect society by preventing the same criminals from repeating their crimes, and by acting as a deterrent to other prospective criminals. Through the years people have developed the opinion of the death penalty not just for what it does to those guilty of heinous crimes, but for what it does to all of us, it offers the tragic illusion that we can defend life by taking life.

Capital Punishment

In today’s society Capital Punishment is believed, by some of the population, to be cruel and unusual. “Some argue that the death penalty is not excessive because it achieves two important social purposes, retribution and deterrence.” Finally some, of course, remain neutral on the topic and view it as not being a big issue. For a few moments I would like to stimulate your brains by presenting to you a controversy that is shared among many citizens of the United States. Should there be Capital Punishment in today’s society? So often we as people directly unaffected by capital punishment allow ourselves to find little to no interest in whether it should be abolished or not. Many...