Death Penalty

The Death Penalty Opposing views

06 November 2010

The death penalty also known as capital punishment is the lawful infliction of death as a punishment. It is a debatable topic that has been going for years. There are many views pro and con to why people agree or disagree to capital punishment. Below I have found two arguments that discuss the opposing and pro views to why the death penalty should or should not be abolished.

In the following viewpoint, David B. Muhlhausen argues that capital punishment should not be abandoned because it deters crimes, saves lives, and the majority of American citizens support its use (2009). In his argument there are no biases that are mentioned. In fact with data as evidenced he mentioned that both capital charges and death sentences, race either played no role or a small role that is very difficult to specify. Meanwhile, it is very difficult to find convincing evidence for racial effects in the Maryland data and if there are any, they may not be additive. Further, race may have a small influence because cases with a black defendant and white victim or “other” racial combination are less likely to have a death sentence (Muhlhausen, 2009). Which the article proved that it was said that capital punishment is not used unfairly toward monitories. The viewpoint on African-Americans being the majority of federal prisoners on death row and a minority in the overall United States population is a vague area in the article. Although the author touched on this viewpoint briefly with facts and data, it was not really supported enough in my opinion. In the end the Arthur concluded by just stating, there is little evidence to suggest that minorities are treated unfairly and that is a reason to support capital punishment. This statement should have been elaborated to make more sense to the reader and also to have the reader agree with the view they are trying to convince us to be on.

I actually believe that the source is credible....