Capital Punishment

Capital punishment, debatably the most severe punitive measure a person can receive for committing a capital crime ¾ such as mass murder, genocide, and in some cases rape. Although as of recent, the death penalty has been reserved for crimes involving homicide. On June 25th, 2008 in the case of Kennedy v. Louisiana, the Supreme Court banned the death penalty for those convicted of raping a child. The death penalty is an issue that will continue to be debated over for many years to come. Some believe the death penalty should be abolished while others believe the death penalty should remain an option (Lopez, Camilla p.1). I have found many reasons and arguments which have persuaded me to be in favor of capital punishment. The most prominent of which are incapacitation of the criminal, retribution and deterrence.

Someone who is found guilty of murder must be incapacitated to prevent them from murdering again, either in prison, or in society if they should get out. The most effective way to ensure this is to sentence guilty party to death. The biggest reason to keep the death penalty is to prevent the crime from happening again. Those who support the arguments against the death penalty cite moral and ethical reasons or promote life imprisonment over death can't guarantee that a person who has committed one murder won't commit another, whether incarcerated or not. A criminal roaming freely in the society, even after he has served his term in prison, is a threat for the other people, and capital punishment is the only way such threats can be eliminated. There have been cases wherein several criminals have continued their reign of terror, even after being imprisoned. As long as such people continue to live, we can't presume we live in a secure environment. Capital punishment permanently removes the worst criminals from society and should prove much safer for the rest of us than long term or permanent incarceration.

“Retributivism is the theory that the criminal...