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Capital Punishment Have you ever been seated around a dinner table with close
friends and somehow the conversation turned into a heated discussion about a
sensitive topic? I have, and let me tell you, it wasn’t pretty. Not everyone
wants to hear other people’s opinions, especially when they clash with their
beliefs. We were discussing capital punishment. Some thought life imprisonment
was sufficient punishment for murder in the first degree, willfully taking the
life of another. Others, like myself, favor the death penalty. Laws against
murder will not be taken seriously until the penalty is as serious as the crime.
Capital punishment is just retribution for committing crimes, so heinous, that
the only acceptable punishment is execution. In a recent article in the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, support for the death penalty has risen to 78%
(Shepard 3A). Most supporters of the death penalty feel that offenders should be
punished for their crimes, and that it does not matter whether executions deter
the crime rate. I believe that enforcing the death penalty will not only punish
the guilty but it will also help protect the safety of citizens by removing
dangerous criminals from society.
The criminal must be aware that others have
been punished in the past for the offense that he or she is planning, and that
what happened to another individual who committed this offense, can also happen
to him or her. Simply stated deterrence refers to a circumstance in which an
individual refrains from an act because he or she perceives a risk of punishment
for the act and fears that punishment. People fear death more than anything
else, and death is therefore the most effective possible deterrent (Clay 70)
Many people who oppose the death penalty will use everything from morality to
religion to try and support their beliefs. Those who support the death penalty
can do the same: as the bible says, Whoever takes the life of any human being
shall be put to death… A life for a life! Anyone who inflicts an injury on his
neighbor shall receive the same in return (Leviticus 24: 17-19) I am not saying
that the Bible is the authority in American social and judicial policy, but many
people believe in their religion, and the Bible is what they use to support
their beliefs. By accepting this interpretation of the Bible, I believe many
more people would support the death penalty. I agree with Walter Berns when he
says, The criminal law must be made awful, by which I mean, awe-inspiring, or
commanding pro-found respect or reverential fear. It must remind us of the moral
order by which alone we can live as human beings, and in our day the only
punishment that can do this is capital punishment (Berns 173).
One way to grasp
the public’s attention is to consider public execution. Representative William
L. Clay Sr. states, If capital punishment is to serve as a deterrent, this
country must emulate the example set by China. There executions are held in
public and carried out by a single shot in the back of the head (Clay 95). This
would definitely send a message out to any possible criminal to think twice
before acting on impulse. Allowing the public to witness someone else’s life
being taken away would demonstrate the seriousness of the crime, instilling fear
into those who may commit crimes in the future. As for the critics who believe
that capital punishment is not a deterrent, it will stop repeat offenders.
According to Walter Berns, the most defensible justification for capital
punishment is incapacitation. That an executed capital offender can never kill
again is an unarguable fact (Bohm ix). An example of this was just recently in
the news, Lawrence Singleton, who was paroled in California a decade ago for
raping a teen-age hitchhiker and chopping off her forearms, was sentenced to
death Tuesday for killing a prostitute in his Tampa living room (CNN
Interactive). If Lawrence Singleton would have been put to death in 1978,
Roxanne Hayes, a 31-year-old mother of three, would still be alive today.
Obviously Singleton’s time in prison was not beneficial and did not rehabilitate
him. This is a perfect example supporting the death penalty. Capital punishment
is a sensitive subject for some people. No one should want to see another human
being die, but at the same time the death penalty is here to protect the safety
and security of decent citizens. Supporters of capital punishment have claimed
that society has the right to kill in defense of its members, just as the
individual may kill in self-defense. As long as there are threats to society,
capital punishment must be used.
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