Capital Punishment :: essays research papers

There are five basic reasons that society uses when imposing the â€Å"punishment† that I’ve been able to conclude from my readings. I will discuss these societal concepts and show that the death penalty does not serve to further them. Deterrence   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Deterrence is basically defined as â€Å"the punishment should fit the crime.† Under this concept, the individual committing the crime and society are prevented from committing this action again. In the case of the death penalty, an individual kills another human and he is â€Å"punished† for it by death. Punishment is supposed to be a temporary penalization for a wrongful action. Death is far from temporary. One is to learn from one’s mistakes. How can the person learn if they are paying for their mistakes with their life? By imposing the death penalty the individual does not learn from their mistakes and neither does society. Economy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Under this concept, punishment should be economical. There are specific costs associated with keeping an inmate on death row such as specially built prison blocks, the need for maximum security, and costing the courts much money through many, many appeals. These costs clearly out weigh the regualr costs incurred to house a regular inmate. Deterrence is clearly not served by imposing the death penalty. Restitution   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Society demands that the punishment should fix the harm it has done. By sentencing a person to death no harm has been fixed. You can not bring the murdered person back by taking the prisoner’s life. Punishment is not intended to revenge, offset, or compensate for the victims suffering or to be measured by it. Retribution The community demands that justice be served. Would justice not equally be served and in fact may be better served by life imprisonment? I believe tit would be a worse punishment to go through a life sentence in prison. The individual is deprived of liberty. He will then suffer and live the rest of his or her life within three lonely walls and a set of bars.