The United States is one of the countries where the death penalty is still being applied in several states, also known as “Capital Punishment.” Since its initial establishment in the eighteenth, the sentence has been given to committing heinous crimes to provide safety and proper justice in the society (Cerna 144). Although the procedure became relatively painless and the death penalty is perceived as right in the cases of murdered victims, the demand for taking life is arguable. This paper aims to discuss Capital Punishment’s necessity for modern society and prove that the justice systems must abolish the procedure.
A death sentence is being applied for the heinous crimes committed in half of the states, and most of them are Republican. The party strongly supports Capital Punishment as a fair sentence for taking someone’s life. Indeed, Jones states that Republicans argue that “the constitutionality of the death penalty is firmly settled by its explicit mention in the Fifth Amendment” (227). The conservative states’ discussion also reveals the beneficial side of the death sentence in the criminal’s awareness of the life-taking consequences and the victims’ confidence in injustice. Furthermore, Capital Punishment supporters emphasize the painlessness of the recent procedures such as pills and injuries.
They claim that many criminals would choose to die quickly instead of the life imprisonment they would get for a heinous crime (Kamuf 15). Arguably, forcing a person to take a drug prohibited by the law by providing justice is a doubting practice.
The convicted individuals often have mental disorders or might argue against Capital Punishment if they represent a racial or ethical minority group. The scholars who study the death sentence cases point out that abolishing it would decrease the racist tensions in the society (Godcharles et al. 23). The discussion if certain groups receive the death penalty more frequently than the others questions how judges decide to take one’s life.
The opposing opinion to Capital Punishment’s existence is that it must be abolished in modern society, and several arguments support that position. To begin with, the cases of death sentence applied to the juveniles that appeared in South Carolina in the 1980s must not be approved in modern society (Cerna 152). Teenagers’ behaviors reflect the values that communities promote, and knowing that the justice system might kill goes against the equal right to life established by the United Nations.
Moreover, educational institutions, religions like Christianity, philosophy, and literature teach the citizens that each individual is valued and is necessary for the country to thrive. The death penalty goes against that notion, makes criminals “useless for society,” and doubts equality, which is crucial in the modern world (Liberman 690). Lastly, jurors and judges can become responsible for one’s death even though the sentences committed a heinous crime. Lillquist states that “a higher standard of proof may result in undermining the legitimacy function of the standard of proof in criminal cases” (40). Considering that another death will not give relief to a victim’s family, there is no need to make such a responsible decision as killing a criminal.
The death Penalty is being supported by the conservative half of the United States, however, their values need to be reviewed in the modern world. The value of each individual is explicit, and the punishment measures must address every citizen’s constitutional right to life. Today’s society values equality and peace, and Capital Punishment goes radically against these moralities, thus it needs to be abolished. The future generations that would not know that justice might include killing a criminal would grow less aggressive.
Works Cited
Cerna, Christina M. “The Abolition of the Imposition of the Death Penalty on Persons who Were Juveniles When They Committed Their Crimes.” Human Rights Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 1, 2019, pp. 143-159. Web.
Godcharles, Brian. D., Rad, J. D. J., Heide, K. M., Cochran, J. K., & Solomon, E. P. “Can Empathy Close The Racial Divide and Gender Gap in Death Penalty Support?” Behavioral Sciences & The Law, vol. 37, no. 1, 2019, pp. 16–37. Web.
Jones, Ben. “The Republican Party, Conservatives, and The Future of Capital Punishment.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 108, 2018, pp. 223-252. Web.
Kamuf, Peggy. “Protocol: Death Penalty Addiction.” The Southern Journal of Philosophy, vol. 50, 2012, pp. 5-19. Web.
Liberman, Peter. “An eye for an eye: Public support for war against evildoers.” International Organization, vol. 60, no. 3, 2006, pp. 687-722. Web.
Lillquist, Erik. “Absolute Certainty and the Death Penalty.“ American Criminal Law Review, vol. 42, no. 1, 2005, pp. 45-91. Web.