The Debate on Capital Punishment: Justified or Not?

Justice at Last If someone commits a crime of stature do you believe it has to be justified by death? Capital punishment, better known as the death penalty, is a legal process in which a person is put to death by the state as a result of their actions and the crime committed. Today there are more than thirty states that allow punishment of this matter in the U. S. What happened to the rest of the states who have abolished this procedure? What was the reason for abolishment?

If someone deserves to receive this harsh sentence for a wrongdoing, as in purposely taking another person’s life, it is completely acceptable for that man to lose his life as well. Today there are too many murder victims whose lives are taken by criminals who have such little regard for our justice system, due to the leniency in punishment for these crimes. A prime example of this scenario is the criminal trial of People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson, also known as the O. J Simpson murder case. In this controversial trial professional football player O.

J Simpson was accused of and tried for the murder of his wife Nicole. Simpson hired and spent millions of dollars on an elite defense team in which he hoped would acquit him of the charges he was clearly guilty of. After a year of investigating and reviewing evidence, Mr. Simpson was found not guilty for the murder of his wife Nicole Simpson. Women’s rights groups along with people across the United States were outraged. It is cases that are handled in a manner such as these and with such an inappropriate outcome that forces the public to become so frustrated with our legal system and government.

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State officials must realize that there is no way to justify the murder of another human being without an extreme punishment including the death of any person who commits that crime. Human rights groups often debate whether or not the death penalty should be allowed. In fact, according to a recent 2011 Gallop poll, 61% of Americans agreed that the death penalty should be kept in effect. Countries that are becoming more democratic have been eager to abolish the death penalty since capital punishment is viewed as a human rights issue. They argue that it is not necessary to control crime by inflicting death.

Instead, the charged should be properly punished with an alternative punishment such as imprisonment, which could properly isolate criminals from the community and put off offenders from committing crimes. But what about the families who are left with these horrific experiences? Is it fair that they have to live in fear of the chance that the man who has killed someone close to them could one day be let out of jail and back into society? In August of 2001, Richard Philips found his eighty-eight year old mother, Ruth Philips, dead on the floor of her apartment.

Ruth Philips who was actively involved with her local church had not shown up for services that morning and after failing to respond to phone calls, her son knew something had been wrong. After crime scene investigation units had rummaged through her apartment for details relating to the crime, they found fingerprints belonging to Jerry Terrell Jackson and concluded that he had been Ms. Philips murderer. Ten years later, on Saturday August 21, 2011 Jerry Jackson was put to death by lethal injection for the rape and murder of Ruth Philips.

For ten years the Philips family had been put through a psychological hardship that no individual should have to endure. The family needed to seek counseling for extreme depression and the fear of the tragic event happening again haunted them. Dating back to Babylonian law, the Code of Hammurabi included the rule “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. ” If this rule were still implemented today, the trial would have been able to conclude in a more timely matter causing the pain and psychological effects to be much easier for the Philips family to overcome.

Those who debate against capital punishment often argue that it violates the 8th amendment, cruel and unusual punishment, and do not understand what is being accomplished by implementing this sentence. They dispute that once in prison criminals have the chance to change and ultimately become a “productive citizen of society. ” The point being made is fairly simple to understand. Capital punishment is a form of retribution that provides the victim’s family a sense of closure that some kind of punishment has been dealt out to the criminal.

It would reassure the people close to the victim that it would not happen again and could also give them the feeling that the death has been avenged. Capital punishment is one of the most commonly debated arguments when discussing our legal system because of how strongly opinionated people are on both sides. The point being that Punishment by death is the ultimate sentence and in no way can it be reversed. But why feel such remorse for these horrible people who have taken the lives of innocent human beings? The death of any one person is a very serious matter and should not be handled lightly.

Arguing that someone who has killed an innocent person should have the chance for survival and even worst, the chance for parole is foolish and lacks common sense - If you take an innocent individual from this world you deserve to be deleted from all existence as well.

No exceptions. 1. "The Death Penalty," Briefing report, American Civil Liberties Union, at: http://www. aclu. org/DeathPenalty/ 2. "Death Row U. S. A. - Summer 2002," Death Penalty Information Center, at: http://www. deathpenaltyinfo. org/  3. "Velma Barfield - The Death Row Granny," About. om, at: http://crime. about. com/ 4. "Execution a no-win situation for Governor," The Guardian, at: http://www. smh. com. au/daily/content/971220/world/world5. html   5. “Executed in Virginia,” The Washington Post, at: http://www. washingtonpost. com/local/jerry-terrell-jackson-executed-in-virginia-for-murder-of-88-year-old-woman/ 6. “O. J Simpson Civil Trial,” U. S. A Today, at: http://usatoday30. usatoday. com/news/index/nns25. htm 7. “The 8th Amendment,” The Legal Dictionary, at: http://legal-dictionary. thefreedictionary. com/8th+Amendment

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