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... Evans was being subject to cruel and unusual punishment. ... In most cases the countries and states that stopped capital punishment followed with its formal abolition shortly after (Clay, 1990, p. ... One reason that the United States did not end capital punishment at this time is partly due to the fact that the war was never fought on our soil and US citizens had not all lived through the death and destruction of WWII personally. Some think that the United States should have followed Europe’s lead and abolished capital punishment; some think it never should.
The truth of the matter is, the United States should cease the use of capital punishment in both federal and state prisons. Capital punishment is immoral and unethical; it degrades society, and lowers the value of a human life. ...
Capital punishment goes against the morals and standards that our country is based upon. A punishment that inflicts harm on a person can hardly be good or moral if it is purposeless. A punishment may be given to a wrongdoer for one or a combination of the following reasons: (1) to protect the community from the criminal returning to previous activity, (2) to rehabilitate the offender; and (3) to restore the moral order breached by the violation. Capital punishment is not required to accomplish any of these purposes. ... This has proven just a successful as the death penalty for punishment. It prevents criminals from returning to society, and is less expensive than capital punishment (Vila & Morris, 1997, p. ... Another study shows that over 80% of those serving life sentences will never commit another crime, and well over 80% will never again commit a capital offense (Bedau, 1999, November 10). These statistics clearly show that other forms of punishment are successful in the deterrence of crime and capital punishment is not needed.
Some justify capital punishment with anger over wrongdoing. ... If anger were not carried out into actions, there would be no need for punishment in the first place. ... Perhaps Andrei Sakhorov had the right view of capital punishment from a moral standpoint when he said:
“ I regard the death penalty as a savage and immoral institution…A state, in the person of its functionaries…that takes upon itself the right to the most terrible and irreversible act—the deprivation of life, such a state cannot expect an improvement in the moral atmosphere of its country. ... )
What he is saying in this quote is that a state cannot better society when it is taking part in such a savage and irreversible act as capital punishment. ... These true accounts tell how capital punishment degrades all of society. ... This shows the violence and dehumanizing actions that are brought out of society with the use of capital punishment (Bedau, 1999, November 10). ... If capital punishment were abolished these, degrading acts would never have happened or happen again (Bedau, 1999, November 10).
Approximate Word count = 2376
Approximate Pages = 9.5
(250 words per page double spaced)
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